


Beyond the Light, Behind the Shadow

by lunaryu (zeroshikidarkangel)



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Reality, Alternate Universe, Drama, Horror, Humor, M/M, Mystery, Romance, Supernatural - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-19
Updated: 2017-03-22
Packaged: 2018-01-13 01:17:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 30,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1207426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zeroshikidarkangel/pseuds/lunaryu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Generation of Miracle is a group of supernatural detectives with special abilities and Kagami is their special client. Kagami never thought in million years that he'd let himself believe in the dark forces. But, dire situations call for desperate measures. Of course, craziness ensues.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Ki. Se. Dai. 1

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimer: Kuroko no Basuke is not mine even though I really want those boys *drools*.**  
>  **Warning:** _Totally AU, supernatural stuffs, shounen ai/yaoi, some horror and badly made humor, probably bloody at some parts, foul language, etc…_
> 
> I'm trying something new. I think this kind of thing can be interesting… yes, it's KagaKuro again (with GoMKaga as spices) because I just love this pair most and I need more of them around I can't even-
> 
> Anyway, of course there will be some vague GoMKuro moments and (probably lots of) GoMKagami moments… and maybe the other pairs as well. Just, please give it a try and let me know what you think afterwards.

**Part 1**

* * *

Kagami Taiga looked at a piece of white paper in his hand in front of a lone, three stories high, white-painted concrete building in a remote area at the corner of the town. It was frankly rather strange. It was still in Tokyo, but somehow the building was build in massive area of an empty field, so vast such that he needed to  _at least_  walk two miles before he was able to find another building.

 _What a waste of space…—_ Kagami wondered while he was reading the letters on the said paper doubtfully, before he tilted his head upward at the sign on the wall, which read ' _Ki. Se_ _. Dai.'_ by the way, above the blackened glass door, to make sure that he had come to the right place. The 190 centimeters tall high school student with dual colored–red and dark-brown—hair and proportionally toned body was hesitant as his hand slowly reached for the door handle. However, before he could even touch the metal knob, he heard a clicking sound and the door creaked open on its own accord.

Kagami jumped slightly, stepping back and whitish as he could feel the unpleasant chill running down his spine despite being under the blast of sunlight in the middle of summer. He stared at the darkness behind the gap between the door and the frame. He gulped, half-way panicking inwardly because a door shouldn't do things like opening by itself without any rational explanation. Still, nothing made sense had happened to Kagami this past week. He had tried everything,  _everything remotely rational_  to explain what was going on with his life, but—

Kagami took a deep breath before exhaling slowly, his body still shivering slightly. He knew in his head that this was ridiculous, but he had run out of options. He didn't know what else he could do to help himself solve this absurd puzzle. He repeated the breathing maneuver twice before steeling his heart and moved his hand once again to push the glass door open wider. Then, with a final dry swallow, Kagami stepped inside the room.

For a moment, Kagami thought he felt a soft gush of breeze pass through him before he blinked, and the feeling was gone. Now, Kagami focused his attention by squinting a little, his crimson colored eyes narrowing to see better in the dim lit room. Before him was a moderate, interiorly designed room with a lot of metal chairs in front of an empty receptionist desk. The room walls were painted white, just like the outside and it was free of occupant except for himself. Kagami frowned faintly because this place was supposed to be an  _independent company_  or so, according to Alex's information.

Kagami huffed once before looking around to see if he could find another door or a junction that would lead him to another room, and when his gaze fleeted past the receptionist desk again, the spot behind it was no longer empty. Someone with light bluish hair already stood facing him with a deadpanned look.

Kagami involuntarily let out an almost girly scream.

"Y-y-you! Since when...!?" Kagami couldn't even perform a line properly as he held his chest tightly, his heart beating like crazy as if he had been running a mile per minute. Beads of cold sweats trickled down from his temple to his cheek, and Kagami was sure he was as pale as a day moon at that moment because he wasn't certain if the boy he had seen appearing so suddenly like that was human at all.

"I have been here the whole time." The freakishly pale 'boy' with eye color as light as his hair spoke softly and Kagami almost missed his voice because… heck, he didn't know why. The volume was supposed to be normal, but there was something latched around the words that caused Kagami's mind to almost intentionally dismiss it as an empty air.

"What?" Kagami wanted to make sure that he really heard the words right.

"I have been here the whole time," the boy repeated more clearly, and now Kagami was convinced that he spoke because he saw the boy's mouth move. Although, Kagami couldn't believe him since he swore the spot the boy was standing on had been vacant a moment ago.

Still, Kagami didn't want to sound rude, so he sighed deeply after his heartbeat calmed down a bit. "Sorry, then. I guess I didn't pay enough attention that I missed you," he muttered lowly while raising his other hand that wasn't on his chest to scratch the back of his neck awkwardly, even though it wasn't itchy at all.

"That is fine. People tend to miss my presence," the boy spoke with a gentle tone, but things that unnerved Kagami was:  _his expression_ ; or  _the lack there of_ , actually. On a brighter side though, the boy's feature was quite a look. He had flawless fair skin, eyes as clear as cloudless blue sky and his hair… Who the  _fuck_  had shocking-blue colored hair anyway? He must have dyed it. And yet, it didn't look strange on him. Moreover, it made him look…  _beautiful_ , for the limited adjective Kagami could think of to describe him.

"Um…" now that Kagami could assess the boy's appearance more significantly, he kind of forgot what he was doing there, getting distracted. As he tried to force his tongue to utter his business, the boy beat him to it.

"You need our assistance." It wasn't a question, more like a statement with how the boy said it in a flat, leveled tone, causing Kagami to pause slightly, before he looked upward at the boy again.

"Yes… kind of," Kagami nodded rather warily. He prayed that Alex didn't screw with him because if it was some short of a scam, he would really kill that woman.

"Have a seat." The boy gestured to the chairs, not even taking the necessary information out of Kagami first, like his name or his age, or where he came from or something in those lines.

Kagami, having nothing better to do anyway, nodded and padded to the front line of the seat before the boy eyed him with his unreadable gaze. Kagami stopped at the third line, making contact with the boy's eyes before averting his eyes on the seat beside him.

Suddenly, Kagami felt something unsettling about that chair. He stepped back before choosing a chair in the fourth line and sat at the edge. He noticed the boy raise his eyebrows just a tiny little bit that most people would probably miss, but not Kagami because he had sharp eyes. The boy didn't stay to watch Kagami squirming longer than necessary though, since he picked up a phone and dialed.

"We have a guest," was what Kagami could pick up on what the blue haired boy said to whoever it was at the other side of the phone line, but he did hear a squeak of elation from the earpiece and he could have sworn he saw the boy wince before pulling the device away from his ear.

Kagami really hoped that this place was real despite how outlandish it might seem.

* * *

**~GoM x Kagami~**

* * *

"We have a guest?!" Kise Ryouta shouted with sparkling amber eyes as he received the phone on his desk. "Are you sure, Kuroko-chi?!" The pretty blond boy was practically about to jump and dance pineapple samba in total joy as he turned to face Midorima Shintarou, a very tall young man with nice green hair. He was seated calmly on the sofa at the square coffee table, reading an occult magazine. Though, the bespectacled boy in black  _gakuran_  only harrumphed in reaction, not even looking up from his reading material, completely ignoring Kise's shiny eyes on him.

"Ah! Midorima-chi, that's cruel! At least you can act happier! We have a guest, you know!  _That kind_ of guest! Kuroko-chi said so!" Kise pouted at Midorima, biting his grayish blue-striped necktie that came along with his own high school gray blazer uniform.

"Kise, shut up," Midorima sniped, apparently not caring enough whether they had guests or not. "Your voice is annoying." Then he flipped a page of his magazine, reaching the horoscope section with skulls and roses decorating the page border.

"How meaaaaan!" Kise cried crocodile tears and faked sobs for a few minutes before he jerked his head up in a realization and slapped his own forehead. "Oh no! Akashi-chi is doing business elsewhere! We can't accept any client when he's away!" Now, he was conflicted. "Even though it's been awhile…" He sniffed, dejected.

Midorima sighed as he closed the magazine with a soft rustle. "Actually, you can if you want to. But it will be your responsibility to solve the client's problem," he reminded and Kise lifted his face up at him, brightening slightly. "And since there are only you, me and Kuroko in the base, it will become our duty too." He clicked his tongue, looking annoyed.

Kise pursed his lips like a kid. "Come on, Midorima-chi. You can't say that you don't want to try this. I mean, it's been two years since 'the awakening' and we haven't properly used our gifts since Akashi-chi built this  _base_  last year. We finally get our  _first_  official customer, you know! Pretty please!" he clasped his palms in front of his face in pleading gesture. "I'll take full responsibility if you and Kuroko-chi don't want to share it. Look, I'm practically begging!"

Midorima silently stared at Kise for a long moment while Kise was peeking at Midorima's expression by opening one of his eyes slightly. Finally though, Midorima let out a long suffering sigh and mumbled, "Do as you wish," as instantly, Kise whooped in delight.

"Thank you, Midorima-chi! I know I love you most! You're the best!" Kise practically jumped the green haired teen to hug him tightly for a second as Midorima sputtered in shock, but before he could yell a protest at the blond, Kise already dashed out of the room, fully intending to bring their guest in.

* * *

**~Gom x Kagami~**

* * *

Kuroko was staring at his ( _their_ ) guest unashamedly— _usually, people don't notice_ , noting some distinctive, fascinating feature of the very tall man,  _boy_ —Kuroko inwardly corrected, pretty sure the guy was still a teen just like himself, in front of him. Dual colored hair in burning red and dark brown, eyes with crimson irises surrounded by black rings, as sharp as a wild tiger's, funnily attractive split eyebrows— _also in red color_ , Kuroko noted, so his hair color must have been natural.

"Um," his guest said, apparently self-conscious as he glanced at Kuroko who couldn't help one of his eyebrows rising just a tiny bit, from his seat a few feet away of him. "W-what's wrong?" He was agitated, Kuroko could see it clearly. Though, he didn't know what had unnerved him. Kuroko didn't do anything worth making the other boy uncomfortable, did he?

 _Well, he caught me staring at him, though_ —Kuroko reasoned in silence which seemed to cause his guest to fidget now, because he hadn't yet looked away from the red head. Besides, he was still quiet, not answering his question.

"What is it?" Now, the red head looked and sounded impatient. Kuroko's mouth corners twitched upward slightly. He didn't think his guest noticed his tiny smile, but his expression visibly relaxed for a fraction, so Kuroko wasn't sure.

"May I know your name?" Kuroko finally spoke, his voice not so loud but not low enough to be dismissed as well.

His guest looked momentarily taken aback, before he coughed and looked the other way, probably embarrassed, or he just didn't want to meet Kuroko's eyes more than necessary. "Taiga, Kagami Taiga." At least he answered Kuroko's question.

"So Kagami-kun, what kind of assistance do you wish for us to provide you?" Kuroko was quite practical. He had been for a long time. He tended to ask for the main problem rather than making small talks and beating around the bush. Akashi said it was one of Kuroko's fine qualities that he appreciated.

Kagami was silent for a moment before- "I'm—"

"Aaaaaah!"

However, a screech from the corner of the room that lead to the stairs royally cut the red head's speech and Kuroko's eyes twitched faintly, hearing such high-pitching tone. He held down the urge to nurse his ears. Instead, he sent a disapproving look at the blond teen that quickly rushed to Kagami.

"Ooh! You must be our guest! Hi, I'm Kise Ryouta, nice to meet you!" Kise immediately reached for one of Kagami's hand and shook it excitedly, his smile wide, cheery and totally welcoming. Kagami officially looked bewildered now.

"Kise-kun," Kuroko chided, but Kise didn't seem to pay him any attention as he started to babble.

"Ooh! You look fantastic, um—"

"Kagami Tai—"

"Kagami-kun! Nice name, by the way! Right, you must have been exhausted—"

"Eh, not real—"

"I know! It's such a remote place to find, but we have lots of reasons for building the base here—"

"Oka—"

"But! You came to the right place! If you need any assistance—"

Kuroko gave Kise an ignite jab right on his side. Kise shrieked in shock and fell on the ground, clutching his (most likely) hurting ribs. "Ooooow!" Of course he was yowling while Kuroko huffed.

"I apologize for his behavior," Kuroko turned towards Kagami who already stepped back several meters away from both him and Kise. His face looked rather pale.

"Um-" Kagami visibly gulped as his eyes darted from Kise to Kuroko and back, utterly cautious. "I think… I should look for some other places." A bead of sweat rolled down Kagami's cheek as he inched to the door. "Maybe—"

"Kise might be an idiot, but don't let that fact deter your  _correct_  decision in coming here."

Another voice spoke and instantly gained attention from both Kagami and Kuroko. They turned to face the owner—from the same direction Kise had showed up earlier, and Kuroko blinked once in slight surprise seeing the green haired boy.

"Midorima-kun," Kuroko greeted, but Midorima didn't spare him as much as a glance. His emerald eyes behind his glasses were focused on Kagami. There was a strange glimmer in the green orbs, and his expression was rather dazed from some reason.

"You are a Leo, aren't you?" Midorima asked out of blue and Kagami lifted his face in noticeable surprise.

"How the he—how did you know that?!" the red head was apparently mystified, staring at Midorima open mouthed.

"I had a vision just now. It seems that… our fate will be quite tangled pretty messily," Midorima's gaze lingered on Kagami for a moment, obviously causing Kagami some level of discomfort, before he turned to the crouching blond on the white ceramic floor, who since god knew when already ceased whimpering and now was looking at Midorima somberly. Midorima nodded once at him and then turned to face the other way, seeming to look for something.

 _Or someone_ —Kuroko guessed nonchalantly, quite used to this situation.

"I am right here." Kuroko informed with a faint sigh as both Midorima and Kise jolted at his voice. It was quite funny and amusing from the first to the tenth time it happened, him freaking people out with his very thin presence, but now it was mostly bothersome because he had to fight his way to get their attention most of the time.

"Kuroko, let's talk upstairs," Midorima pushed his glasses up his nose bridge after nodding at him as well, in regard. He was always quite polite when he was nervous. "If we want to accept the client's request, we have an official form to fill for our record. It is the requirement of being a legit company."

"I know. I was just waiting for Kise-kun to come down and escort our guest up. But he started to talk nonsense and scare Kagami-kun," Kuroko reported squarely and Kise made a protesting noise while Midorima sent him a judgmental glare.

"Kuroko-chi, that's mean!" and Kise practically faked tears again, covering his face and sobbing. "Even though I was only trying to be friendly…"

"Let's leave this idiot here alone and go upstairs." Some popped veins were visible on Midorima's temple as he turned around and walked away.

"Midorima-chiiiii! So cruuuuuel!" Kise wailed  _again_  pitifully.

"Come, Kagami-kun. You need to talk, right? We will listen to your problem." Kuroko moved beside Kagami undetected, and Kagami flinched slightly as he faced Kuroko, clearly edgy.

Kagami was bemused, that much, Kuroko noticed. Still, it seemed that he was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and gulped once before taking a deep breath, probably trying to calm his nerves. "Alright," his voice sounded hoarse. He cleared his throat twice and nodded, ready to follow.

" _Sheesh_ , at least asked for his name instead of his zodiac, Midorima-chi. You're being rude to Kagami-kun," Kise apparently was done with his drama queen act and was walking beside Midorima now, sulking and nitpicking.

"I bet you didn't even hear his first name before you started to bombard him with useless chit-chat," Midorima snorted.

"Aah! Midorima-chi is being a meanie again! So cruel! You're bullying me!"

"Ignore them, Kagami-kun. You will have a headache if you pay too much attention to them." Kuroko encouraged Kagami to walk beside him as he guided the taller teen to the stairs.

"Uh… I couldn't help it." Kagami coughed slightly, pointedly trying not to stare at the bickering duo in front of them. "They are quite… distracting." Kagami looked like he was about to say more, because his expression was that look of vacillating, but he didn't say anything else.

Kuroko smiled to himself, quite amused. "You take their interaction quite well for a novice. Anyone else would probably have been running for dear life… or maintaining their sanity." He added as an afterthought. Kagami snorted out a soft laughter, apparently finding Kuroko serious statement very funny.

"Well, I hope I make a right decision to come here." A minute later, Kagami was somber. His eyes focused as he tilted his head upward towards the door at the 3rd floor on the up-end of the stair steps.

"Do not worry. You came to a right place. Midorima-kun said so, so it is 100% accurate." Kuroko reassured to Kagami's slight qualm. The red head kept silent even though his eyes showed slight hesitation and Kuroko just gave him a tiny reassuring smile as Midorima opened the door and Kise entered, followed closely by him and then Kagami. Kuroko was the last to enter and he closed the door as they seated Kagami on the sofa, while Kise, Midorima and Kuroko took the seat across of him.

"So, Kagami-kun, what can we do for you?"

* * *

**~GoM x Kuroko~**

* * *

Kise, Midorima and Kuroko were standing in front of a  _mansion_  in the residential area near Ginza.

It was… a big mansion, by the way; large, four or five stories (if they counted the attic) high, vast front (and probably back as well) yard, with two meters tall closed gates.

Typical a wealthy family home.

"I feel intimidated suddenly," Kise claimed, a bead of sweat trickling down his cheek, and Midorima just pushed his glasses up his nose-bridge in silence, not agreeing but not denying the statement.

"Kagami-kun didn't say anything about being filthy rich," Kuroko also stared, unimpressed.

"We didn't ask him," Kise made a point, but it didn't mean they had to like it.

"We should make a habit to check our client's background better in the future, so we wouldn't be unprepared like this," Midorima's eyes were on his own plain, short-sleeved, white buttoned up shirt and black long pants, his school summer uniform. "We seem to be underdressed to be visiting such…  _enormous_  place."

"That is true. We should probably inform Akashi-kun that we need dress-code or something, so we can appear more professional," Kuroko agreed, eyeing his simple light blue polo shirt and baggy dark-grey jeans.

"Eeeh… but we are practically teenagers in summer vacation," Kise whined, pensively looking at his flashy and trendy clothes, a simple v-neck shirt in yellow color that fitted his body quite nicely and a pair of knee-length dark blue jeans that hugged his narrow hips fittingly, showing his lean figure wonderfully. Oh, and don't forget a pair of blue-tinted sunglasses that perched on his stunning blond head. "Isn't it fine to dress as we like when we aren't in school?" He was practically sparkling.

"Well, it is. But if we are  _working_  in 'Ki. Se. Dai.', we have to at least look like we  _are_  a pro, since we represent our company." Midorima sighed, reaching at the sunglasses on Kise's head and retrieving it. "Lose them. You look like a guy looking for a date with them."

Kise puffed out his cheeks, grumbling slightly, "But I  _am_ a fashion model," but he accepted his sunglasses back and kept it on the v of his collar in compromise.

"So… shall will ring the bell?"

They were debating silently with their shared sight, about who would push the bell button to announce their arrival to the occupants of the mansion, but before they could reach any mutual decision, someone opened the gate.

It was Kagami. He looked exhausted with bags under his eyes, causing his eyes to look meaner and scarier than the first time they saw him, as if he hadn't slept for days. Maybe he really hadn't if his story was valid. Besides, the color of his face was rather worrying. "Welcome," he greeted them with a low voice. "Come on in. But I want you guys to keep the voices down… It's quite… rather hectic recently."

Kagami's expression was that of an anxious, almost scared animal and it honestly didn't fit his natural look because a few days before, he still looked fierce despite his  _problem_.

"Did something happen, Kagami-kun?" Kuroko didn't waste time to ask what was wrong, but Kagami just swallowed and made a distraught noise before he glanced nervously at the mansion in front of them.

It led them to the story that Kagami told them when he was in their office three days ago.

" _My home… is fucking creepy," Kagami said, adding the expletive to make a point, his eyes focused on the pattern of the coffee table._

" _Your home?" Midorima inquired further because Kagami had fallen into a brief silence, just to fill the time._

" _Yes, it… started about a month or so ago, I'm not quite sure because I didn't pay any attention to it until it got totally disturbing." Kagami closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I live at the residential area near Ginza. Both my parents work, and currently they are abroad, so I am practically living by myself now." Kagami hesitated for a moment before he continued. "I usually stay in my room and listen to music when I don't play games or watch TV or play basketball outside. But sometimes, when I look for the CDs of my favorite albums, they aren't in places they're supposed to be. I thought I just misplaced them, but one time it was practically in front of me on my studying desk, near my hand, and I just looked away for a moment to get my CD player, but when I tried to grab it, it wasn't there anymore. It was odd, because I was sure it was right there, but then it was gone. When I looked for it, I finally found it inside my school bag, which was a lot weirder since my school doesn't allow the student to bring such thing, and I sure as hell didn't want to bring it to school because teachers would confiscate them if I tried._

" _Then I realized that it wasn't just the CDs. When I thought back some days prior, I lost a handful of novels that my father bought me when he was abroad before. They weren't stored in my room, but at my father's study because there's the only place that got lots of rows of bookshelves. I needed the book to get some reference for the book review project, but when I looked for them, they weren't in my father's study. I asked my father and my mother if they somehow moved them, but they didn't and just guessed that I probably misplaced them. But I hadn't touched those books in a long while, and last time I saw them, they were in my father's study. A week later though, I found those books on the living room, near the TV, and that was completely impossible because mom would have yelled at me if she had seen them there instead of in appropriate place, and yet when I asked her after I put them back in my father study, she didn't see a thing the night before when she watched a midnight movie with my father._

" _It got worse right after mom and dad went abroad for their work. Things just kept misplaced even though no one moved them. I was confused at first, not understanding it, but then… things I didn't own started to show up in the house as well. It freaked the hell out of me because some of those things were just…" Kagami shuddered visibly, looking somewhat afraid as he swallowed again dryly._

_Kise thoughtfully served him a glass of fresh orange juice and Kagami gave him a grateful look and a 'thanks' as he grabbed the glass and drank the juice keenly. Finishing it in one go, he put the empty glass back on the table, sighing. "I thought I suffered a sleep-walking disease and moved things unconsciously or taking things home without knowing, but when I asked some of my friends to keep an eye on me as I was asleep, they said I slept like a log and things were still misplaced afterwards, even my friends' things that they brought to my house._

" _And after that… the noise started."_

_Kagami paused eerily and Kise gulped slightly as Midorima narrowed his eyes. Kuroko kept his expression impassive, but he was curious of what happened afterwards._

" _What noise?" the blond couldn't help urging Kagami to continue._

" _Foot-steps," Kagami's hands shook lightly and he clenched them into fists, probably willing them to stop. "It wasn't as noticeable at first and I thought it was a noise from outside, but then the steps were getting closer each night, and finally, I could hear_   _them in the house, from upstairs, sometimes downstairs, sometimes even right outside my room. I checked every night to make sure that it wasn't some kind of thief or robber. I even called the police a few times, but they didn't find anyone beside me in the house after they investigated. The doors and windows were locked as well from the inside, so I didn't know what to think anymore. I began to believe that I was going crazy and suffered some kind of hallucination, but even after I went to the psychiatrist and got medication, the noise didn't stop. It doesn't stop. I am paranoid now; I can't stay alone in the house because I'm uneasy. I'm anxious of what will happen when those footsteps finally go into my room. I practically begged my tutor to stay with me in the house after I told her about my problem and she apparently could hear those foot-steps too. She's the one who recommended this place to me. She said you guys could help me with cases like… like 'this'."_

_Kagami made a difficult face at the end of his sentence, the quote practically surfacing in his tone, and he looked resigned as he added. "I don't even believe in supernatural things… but I already tried everything that's remotely rational, and yet I still can't explain what is happening in my life. I don't know what to do anymore…" He then covered his face with his palms, seeming absolutely at a loss._

_Kuroko, Kise and Midorima shared a glance for a moment before they nodded. "We'll check it out for you then," Kise said, earning him Kagami's attention._

" _Huh?" the red head looked perplexed._

" _We can investigate for you whether this is a supernatural case or just an elaborate sick prank to frighten you, Kagami-kun," Kuroko explained and Kagami's eyes shone slightly in appreciation._

" _You would really do that?"_

" _With appropriate fee, of course," Midorima quickly adjoined and Kagami snorted a humorless laugh._

" _I am in the verge of breaking down and deciding to move out my home, you know, I think I can handle paying you guys as long as I can sleep again peacefully inside my own house," he rolled his eyes._

" _Then it's settled. We'll go to your house within this week. Expect us there in three days." Kise clasped his hands in a deal, accepting Kagami's request to hire them to investigate the phenomenon in his house._

Now, back to the present where Kagami brought them all in front of the mansion.

"Is it getting worse? The… phenomenon, I mean," Kuroko looked upward at Kagami and Kagami kept staring at the door as if it would suddenly grow teeth and bite their heads off.

"It is," Kagami whispered. "I… saw things recently."

"You saw something?" Kise and Midorima chorused in surprise before they blinked at each other strangely.

"I'm not sure what I saw, but…" Kagami's face went paler if it was possible. "I… can feel it. When I was taking a bath last night… something cold and clammy touch my back. I practically jumped out of water and-" he slapped his mouth shut, shutting his eyes.

"And?" Midorima pushed.

"In the mirror… there was… something like a shadow, a- a black thing shaped like a person and-and-" Kagami faltered. He looked very scared now, "-I-it was just in my peripheral view and only for a second or less, so I might have seen it wrong…!" But his voice didn't convince them because it was shaky and he seemed to try to induce himself instead of them.

"Anyway, we will set up some equipment in your house to start the investigation." Midorima was sympathetic enough not to press on. Kagami was already quite frightened; there was no need to terrify him more. "Would you like to be present during the survey or you prefer hearing only the conclusion?"

"I…" Kagami looked the other way, apparently conflicted.

"You can stay at your friend's place if you do not want to deal with this," Kuroko offered.

Kagami seemed troubled for a brief moment before he sighed. "No, I think I'll stay. I mean, I'd like to know the-… the  _things_  that had thrown my life into quite a chaos in just a few weeks," he muttered, scratching his head in frustration.

"Well then," Kise snagged Kagami's arm suddenly, surprising him. "Let's tour the house while Midorima-chi and Kuroko-chi set up the equipment!" he grinned jovially, generally distracting Kagami from his distress as he pulled at his arm.

"Equipment? But… I don't see any of your-…"

"Ah, don't mind the detail. Come on, let's go!" Kise practically dragged Kagami away, leaving Midorima and Kuroko to do their job.

* * *

  **~GoM x Kagami~**

* * *

Kuroko stood in the middle of the living room while Midorima was seated calmly on the sofa in front of the television. The bluenet closed his eyes and seemed to be merging with his surrounding while Midorima was putting out a set of Tarot Card, Minor Arcana, on the coffee table.

Midorima concentrated on his cards, shuffled it three times and then divided it into five sets, one in the middle and the other four surrounding it in diamond form. He opened the first card at the top and promptly widened his eyes slightly at the revelation.

 _A sudden 'Suit of Sword'… not a good premonition_ —Midorima stared at the 'Three of Swords' card in his hand, furrowing. 'Swords' related card represented something 'severe' and 'aggressive'. It wasn't always bad, but… keywords for 'Three of Swords' meaning were 'painful separation', 'sorrow', 'heartbreak', 'grief' and 'rejection' in upright position, so it must have something to do with human 'relationship', yet Midorima wasn't sure if its context.  _Can be romance or friendship, even family, but unless there's more information, I won't know._

Midorima sighed and put down the card beside the top pile and moved on to the right pile and took the first card as well.  _Five of Wands, one of the 'Suit of Wands'—_ he contemplated silently. The meaning of 'Five of Wands' were: 'disagreement', 'competition', 'strife', 'tension' and 'conflict', in upright position. How was it connected to Kagami exactly? There might be someone else included in this divination.

Midorima set the card beside its original pile and moved to the pile at the bottom of the diamond. He opened the first card and narrowed his eyes at the 'Six of Cups' card in reversed position. "Stuck in the past, naivety and unrealistic…" Midorima mumbled thoughtfully.

 _Is it telling me about Kagami's personality? But, he doesn't seem like someone who is stuck in the past. Maybe it's about his 'clueless' tendency, although he's sure a rational one because he tried every reasons that make sense first before resorting to our help_ —Midorima reasoned, but he had a strong feeling about the 'stuck in the past' keyword. He didn't know why because it made little sense, but…

Midorima filed that thought and set the card beside its pile before he moved to the pile on the left side of the diamond. He opened the first card and exhaled. ' _Six of Pentacles' in reversed position?_ —Midorima couldn't believe this.  _Debt, selfishness and one-sided charity… did someone owe Kagami or did Kagami owe someone? Selfishness… I yet to know Kagami that well, but he doesn't look selfish at all. I mean, he's willing to stay in Japan alone when his parents go abroad for their work, and he isn't complaining, so that has to mean something but selfishness. As for one-sided charity… I have to ask him first about that._

Midorima set down the card and moved his gaze on the last pile in the middle of the diamond form. This should show him something about how those four Minor Arcana cards related to each other. However, when Midorima flipped the card open, he gasped and dropped it back on the pile, totally knocked for six.

That seemed to distract Kuroko from his concentration and the blue haired boy peered at Midorima with raised eyebrows. Midorima covered his mouth, his hand shaking, and he was perspiring slightly as he stared at the ominous last card on the middle pile.

"Midorima-kun?"

Kuroko's voice brought Midorima back from his internal debate. He looked upward at Kuroko who tilted his head aside a bit. "Is everything alright? You look rather pale."

"I-…" Midorima cleared his throat and put his hand down, reaching and hovering beyond the last card. "I'm fine, but… something is very wrong with my card."

"What about your card reading?" Kuroko abandoned his spot to approach Midorima on the couch. He looked over the opened cards with blank face, evidently not understanding the meaning of each card or as a whole. However, when he seemed to catch a sight on the last card, his eyes were a fraction wider than before. "Is that—?"

"Yes," Midorima nodded, tapping the card with his index-finger. "There's a Major Arcana card mixed up in my Minor Arcana," he continued.

"Is this coincidence?" Kuroko sat beside Midorima, looking at the card intently. Midorima gave him a  _'please'_  look and Kuroko amended. "Right, there's no such thing as coincidence for Midorima-kun's card reading… and the probability of misplaced card…" Midorima narrowed his eyes sharply at Kuroko and he nodded. "Impossible, of course… Midorima-kun is a neat-freak," he deadpanned and Midorima scowled at him.

" _Something_  slipped this card in my Minor Arcana Tarot card," Midorima insisted. Or else there would never be a Major Arcana card in them since he kept his Major Arcana card in separate box.

"And that Major Arcana Tarot card… it's 'Death', right? Are we in emergency situation?" Kuroko looked at Midorima seriously.

"I'm not certain what its exact mean is. 'Death' can be 'endings', but can also mean 'beginnings', 'change', 'transformation' and 'transition' in Tarot reading. It isn't necessarily bad. I'm more surprised at the fact that this card is  _here_  at all because Major Arcana represents something in a long term, a warning too, sometimes. But somehow, it is here as the conclusion that relates to the other four Minor Arcana cards that deal with 'this moment'. 'Death' in upright position in relation to 'Three of Swords', 'Five of Wands', 'Six of Cups' and 'Six of Pentacles'… I can't conclude anything unless I ask Kagami a few things about this reading meaning first." Midorima sighed, putting his card back together, except the 'Death' card. He set it aside to be kept in his other box that stored the rest of his Major Arcana cards.

Kuroko was silent at that and Midorima looked upward at him after he finished storing all his cards back to their respective places. "What about you? Do you find something about the house?" he asked and Kuroko nodded.

"I do feel 'presences' in this house."

"Multiple." Midorima noted and Kuroko nodded again.

"I have not pinpointed their exact place since I feel them all-over the mansion, but there is only one place that is positively untouched by those 'presences'."

"Kagami's bedroom." Midorima concluded and Kuroko looked around with solemn look, as if he could see something. "Maybe this mansion is like a playground for them because it's mostly empty sans Kagami's room."

"Or they are just stranded here because something or  _someone_  pulls them here," Kuroko closed his eyes, apparently feeling something. "I will check the history of this mansion. Midorima-kun, do you want to dig Kagami-kun's background more deeply?"

"I will just ask the person himself," Midorima stood and walked off to find Kagami and Kuroko just smiled when they parted and walked out of the mansion.

* * *

  **~Gom x Kagami~**

* * *

Kise was still on Kagami's side even after the house-tour ended. Frankly, Kagami didn't know what to say to that. Of course, he was grateful that Kise was watching his back, but being followed to the bathroom was a little over protective even for Kagami's standard.

"I'm fine, you know. You don't have to follow me all the time." Kagami huffed, standing in front of the bathroom door awkwardly while Kise was behind him, still smiling innocently.

"But, isn't the bathroom one of the places where you saw the person-like shadow?" Kise tilted his head aside.

"It is, but not  _this_ bathroom. It's the bathroom at the second floor near my bedroom," Kagami explained. "And I need to use it. You don't really want to go into the bathroom with me, do you?"

"Why not?" Kise looked puzzled.

"Are you serious?!" Kagami was rather scandalized. "It's violating privacy!"

"Yah, but…" Kise laughed sheepishly. "I need to be with Kagami-kun a couple of more hours, see…"

Kagami scrunched his nose at him, confused. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Uh… it has something to do with the limit of my gift. Anyway, I will get worried if you leave my sight, Kagami-kun. After all, you hire me to keep you safe from whatever it is that endangers your life." Kise gave him a brilliant, sincere smile and Kagami was admittedly a bit touched by it, but it didn't mean he would agree to let Kise see him doing his private business no matter what.

Besides, Kagami felt that this bathroom was alright. Nothing would happen to him in that bathroom. Kagami was sure of that. "Thanks, but I will be okay," he smiled back at Kise. It had been awhile since he felt safe. It might have something to do with Kise and the others being there and trying to help him solve this ridiculous problem.

Kise looked momentarily stunned and he seemed about to say something, but Kagami already went inside the bathroom and closed the door at his face. "Ah, at least keep talking to me, Kagami-kun! Let me know if something happens!"

Kise's voice came through behind the wooden door and Kagami chuckled slightly. "Okay, alright," he answered dutifully. It was kind of nice actually, having someone to talk to constantly.

When Kagami got out of the bathroom, Kise was humming, his back leaning against the wall. His expression brightened as he noticed Kagami. "Kagami-kun!" and he immediately flocked himself at Kagami's side again, smiling 'eheh'.

"What's that ' _eheh'_? Are you seriously waiting for me in front of the bathroom?" Kagami didn't know if he felt exasperated or embarrassed, probably both.

Kise laughed again sheepishly, but before he could say anything to excuse his strange behavior, the ground began to shake so suddenly.

"Ah! W-what?!" Kise squeaked in surprise as he lost balance and Kagami immediately grabbed Kise before he steadied his equilibrium by leaning on the wall, holding on Kise as well to prevent him falling over.

"Earthquake?!" Kagami was about to squat down, fully intending to pull Kise down with him, but then there was a bang and suddenly repetitive pounding sound was heard all over the place, especially from the ceiling. "What the—?!"

"Rapping?!" Kise sounded baffled and the tremble was so bad that the mansion started to shudder with it.

"Kise! Kagami!" Midorima's voice was heard somewhere between the pounding. "Hurry! Come over here!"

Kagami caught a sight of him near the door that led them to the living room and he clenched his teeth, gripped Kise's hand more tightly, before he pulled the blond to run with him to where Midorima was.

When they reached the living room, the pounding stopped right away. Kagami was panting heavily, eyes wide, cold sweating, slightly panicked. "What the hell was that?!"

"Rapping… that's one of Poltergeist nine criteria," Midorima answered, sounding perplexed. "Though… this is the first time I experienced it, so I'm not sure."

"Poltergeist?" Kagami was befuddled.

"Poltergeist, or in other name, 'noisy ghost'," Kise supplied informatively.

"GHOST?!" Well, wasn't it getting better and better? Kagami could feel the cold shiver attack his body and suddenly, his vision blurred.

 _Huh?_ —Now his body lost its strength as well as he collapsed, and despite the surprise shout from both Kise and Midorima calling his name, his consciousness was fading away.

Before his sight went completely dark, he saw that black shadowy thing again and now… he caught a glimpse of a pair of dark eyes staring straight into his own.

_Who—?_

  **End of Part 1**

**Tbc…**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Um… I don't know what came to me, but I got an urge to write something like this so suddenly (even though I should have been updating other on-going stories first, sheesh). Anyway, I love supernatural stuff and the horror that came from it, so I'd like to try my ability to write one. Well, this is actually a tryout, so there might be only two or three chapters for this. If I can finish it safely, let me know if you want me to expand it. So, any feed-back? Question, critique, suggestion, anything at all?


	2. Ki. Se. Dai. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kagami has nightmare, Midorima tries to protect Kagami in his own way, Kise is comforting and Kuroko shows his finding as well as his special ability.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait guys. Here's part 2. ENJOY!  
>  **Disclaimer an Warning: _See part 1._**

**Part 2**

* * *

_Huh?_ —Kagami slowly opened his eyes and immediately realized that he was surrounded by the darkness. _Where am I?_

Kagami felt uneasy with the unfamiliarity of everything around him. _What's going on? What kind of place is this? Where's everyone?_ —He tried to call someone, anyone, but his voice was exceptionally high and he abruptly realized that it was his voice from when he was still a kid.

" _This… was my voice before I underwent voice change,"_ he mumbled, very baffled, as he reached for his throat and noticed that his hand was also smaller. _"But, how…?"_

"… _-mise…"_

Kagami jerked his head upward as he heard a voice. _"W-who is it?!"_ He yelled, rather freaking out now. He looked right and left, up and down, trying to locate the source of that disembodied voice.

"… _-promise, okay?"_

That voice was also high, a child's voice and it was kind of familiar. No, it was very familiar. He knew he had ever heard it before, but Kagami just couldn't pinpoint whose voice it was.

"… _-here, …be waiting for you."_

Kagami felt something cold brush his pinky and he yanked his hand away in fright instantly, and when he looked down to check what it was, he found skeletal fingers grabbing at his wrist…

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"

#

Kagami sprang up from his restless sleep in a very loud, terrified scream. Midorima hurriedly moved to his side, reached for both of his arms and squeezed them in place. "Hey, easy, Kagami. You're alright. You're at home," he murmured calmingly. Kagami was still panting, his pupils dilated, and his expression was still unfocused. He looked very afraid, sweat practically running down his entire face.

"Kagami-kun?" Now, Kise also knelt beside the couch where Kagami had been laying on earlier, hesitantly reaching out to him, possibly trying to call the red head back to reality. "Hey, it's okay. We're safe here," he said, finally touched his shoulder and looked at Kagami's eyes reassuringly.

Gradually, Kagami's fast shallow breath was slowing and a few minutes later, he seemed aware of his surrounding once more. "W-what… what happened?" He looked confused, disoriented, but at least he _saw_ both Midorima and Kise, unlike earlier when his eyes were open, and yet he didn't _see_ at all.

"You passed out," Midorima informed, "-because of exhaustion and lack of sleep." He looked at Kagami's eyes closely, making sure that Kagami catch on his explanation.

"Pass out?" Kagami sounded surprised.

"You don't seem to be running a fever, though," Kise held Kagami's chin up and pulled his face to look at him before he rested his forehead on Kagami's. "Yep, temperature is normal." He nodded right after he pulled back.

Kagami's face flushed slightly, his expression conflicted for a moment. Midorima lifted one of his eyebrow, secretly amused at his adorable reaction. Apparently, Kagami was a shy guy.

"How are you feeling right now? Any dizziness or fatigue?"

Kagami turned to face Midorima again, shaking his head slightly. "Just tired," he exhaled soundly. "I feel like… I've forgotten something important…" he grunted pensively.

"What were you dreaming about just now? You screamed so intensely when you woke up," Kise stood before taking a seat beside the now sitting Kagami who rested his face on his palms. Midorima also moved slightly away to give him space and seated himself on the single couch on Kagami's other side.

"There was… darkness around me. It was hazy. I could see some kind of site, but it was dark and I couldn't make out the shape. And… and there was this… voice." Kagami paused, taking a deep breath.

"Voice?" Midorima narrowed his eyes. Did the 'presence' communicated with Kagami? Through his dream?

"Yeah," Kagami put his hands down, looking very perturbed. "I think… I think I _know_ that voice. It's familiar… a child's voice. I know I've heard it before, somewhere… but I can't remember whom it belongs to."

"What did the voice say to you?" Kise looked very intrigued and interested.

Kagami closed his eyes, remembering. "Something about promise and- and 'here' as in 'that place' and-…"

"… _be waiting for you…"_

"Who is waiting for _whom_?" Midorima blinked once as Kagami distractedly said it.

"I don't know." Kagami shook his head again, essentially calmer, but he still looked rather skittish. "That voice said it. I got a feeling that it's for me, but… I'm not sure." Then his face paled slightly.

"There's more, right?" Kise urged, apparently noticing Kagami's further anxiety.

"Um," Kagami visibly swallowed. "And there was a… a skeletal hand, clutching at my wrist." He absentmindedly circled his right wrist, as if he could still feel the sensation.

"Skeletal hand, huh?" Midorima's thought ran back to his card. Hopefully, it didn't have anything to do with _Death_ , but just in case, Midorima would take more precaution.

"It's just a dream, Kagami-kun. You're safe with us here. We won't leave you alone." Kise smiled at him sweetly and Kagami seemed grateful at his comforting presence.

"Hey, Kagami, do any of these words mean something for you?" Midorima then handed Kagami a list of words, to take Kagami's mind off of his dream as well as to gain some inside information from Kagami's perspective. After all, it was the keywords of the Minor Arcana Card that he dealt for fortune telling earlier. Some of them must have had some kind of connection to Kagami's current problem at some point.

Kagami took the list and scanned the content. He blinked once and twice as he seemed to catch some words that he associated with his life right then. "Painful separation… competition… naivety… one-sided charity…"

"Those four words?" Midorima narrowed his eyes and Kagami nodded.

"Those words remind me of something immediately," Kagami reflected.

"Would you mind telling us what they remind you of?" Midorima asked and Kagami shook his head.

"For painful separation, it reminds me of the time when I was a kid. I lived in Japan until I was seven before my parents whisked me away to Loss Angeles. I had a lot of friends here at that time, and when I moved, I had to part with them, so it was very hard for me at first. Well, eventually I adapted well with new life abroad, but sometimes, I kinda miss them, my childhood friends here, very much. Though, now I barely remember their faces and names." Kagami looked apologetic when he said that.

"What about competition?" Kise asked.

"Ah, I'm a competitive person, so I often crave for a rival to compete with. I played basketball now, so I compete in high school basketball tournaments," Kagami nodded resolutely.

"Naivety?"

"People tend to call me dense and super naïve. I don't know why," Kagami shrugged.

"One-sided charity?" Midorima asked further and this time, Kagami made an uncomfortable sound at the back of his throat.

"Uh… some girls in my school offered to… _you know_ , with me, but I kinda feel that such thing is unnecessary and too much. Besides, _that_ shouldn't be a charity, and I don't really appreciate to be some kind of object to… uh, _you know_." Kagami stammered, his cheeks pinking and he looked very nervous. Besides, there were too many ' _you know'_ in his speech. He seemed highly embarrassed.

"Ah," Kise chuckled, apparently understanding what Kagami said. Midorima frowned, quite in the dark then, not catching what Kagami meant.

Kagami cleared his throat. "Anyway, do they have something to do with _this_ problem now?" He made an inquiring face at Midorima.

"It should, but I'm not sure anymore if this is about you at all," Midorima muttered lowly, distastefully eyeing his pouch where his cards were stored. He wasn't even close to understanding his card reading at all. What did that have any to do with the phenomenon in Kagami's house anyway?

"What do you mean?" Kagami furrowed his brow.

"Nothing. Does 'Death' mean anything special to you?" Midorima continued and Kagami sent him a weird look.

"Uh, I don't want to be anywhere near it so soon?" Kagami was apparently unsure of his own answer because his tone was _asking_.

 _Of course Kagami would interpret it that way. I should have known. No wonder people call him naïve_ —Midorima shook his head slightly, rather exasperated.

"Never mind."

"But… isn't Kuroko-chi late? It's almost five o'clock." Kise looked at his watch, frowning slightly.

"Oh yeah. Where's Kuroko?" Kagami looked around, probably trying to locate the bluenet's presence.

"He went to check on something in the library," Midorima supplied.

"What _something_?" Kagami looked curious.

"The history of this house, Kagami-kun!" Kise readily answered.

"Eh?"

* * *

**~GoM x Kagami~**

* * *

Kuroko was having trouble with his finding.

Kagami's house itself was relatively new. It was only ten years old and none of the family that lived in the house previously encountered any strange phenomenon. "It is a normal mansion." Kuroko sighed, clicking the image of the mansion before he spotted the link to the contractor that built it.

There was no death, no accident, no nothing. What in the world happened there after Kagami moved in? Maybe it didn't have anything to do with the house at all. Maybe it was Kagami that was haunted… or cursed. But there was nothing around Kagami when he was in the office, or when Kagami was in the house with Kuroko, Midorima and Kise. Kuroko would notice after all, since Kuroko _could_ see.

"The presences are scattered around, not concentrated on Kagami," Kuroko mumbled and he clicked Google to look for the history of the land, back to the date before the mansion were built.

His search result about the land was that it was a piece of abandoned land. There was nothing special with it. Kuroko let out a deep sigh once again. "Maybe it will be faster if I ask _them_ myself…" He mumbled lowly. Closing the window, he logged out of the computer and walked back to the receptionist.

"Excuse me, do you have any record on the abandoned land near Ginza before the mansion was built?" he asked the librarian and she was rather surprised at first, apparently for suddenly finding him in front of her, but then she nodded after composing herself.

"All the public record of the land are stored in the storage room at the third floor, locker number five," she handed him a key after he signed his name, dated his search and wrote down his purpose on the form.

"Thank you," Kuroko smiled politely before he moved to look for the hard record of the land upstairs.

When he arrived at the storage room, Kuroko had to hold his breath because the dust was so thick. He guessed, no body needed hard copy anymore when they had soft copy in the computer. But sometimes there were many old records that were purposely kept out of the soft copy to avoid bad press or scandal. Kuroko knew it was a long shot, but it didn't hurt to check them as well, just in case.

As he opened the right locker and took the complete, _thick_ record of the land, Kuroko furrowed his brows slightly when a sheet of paper slipped and fell down from the clip. He bent down to pick it up, but upon seeing the strange letters, he blinked. "What is this thing doing in the abandoned land record?"

The thick file in his right hand was a script of the land purchase from the country, except, the part of the new owner of the land was left blank. "Strange…" Kuroko then eyed the sheet in his left hand. It looked like a charm. The letters were in _Bonji_ (1) for earth sake, and there was some kind of weird symbol at the top. Maybe it was a Buddhist charm to ward of book worms or something? Kuroko wasn't sure. Charm wasn't his forte. He could ask Midorima later, since the green haired boy knew a lot about it.

Kuroko set the paper-like-charm aside before he concentrated on the record on his right hand. He read it carefully and made a note about the detail of the purchase. He checked the company that owned the land now, but he couldn't find it in any hard record. He was bemused before once again, he checked for the digital record downstairs, and yet nothing.

"This is very odd…"

Giving up, Kuroko filed the record back to its place and then returned the locker key to the librarian. Next, if there was no digital or hard record of the land, he was obliged to check out the grapevine.

It was almost four when Kuroko found an old house. Well, at least the house which owner was still there after all these years, before the mansion was built until now, that is.

"Excuse me," Kuroko saw a little girl on the lawn and he had to call her several times until the girl realized he was there. "Hello," he waved at her.

The little girl had shoulder length dark brown hair, tied into twin pig tails, one on each side of her head. She wore a cute pink dress with sakura pattern on the chest and skirt parts. She looked no older than six.

"Can I help you, _niichan_ (2)?" she asked. Her voice was inquiring, but polite and so cute.

Kuroko smiled. "Is your mother or father home?" he asked. She shook her head. "Your grandmother?"

" _Baachan_ (3) is here. She is inside," she nodded in affirmative.

"Can I speak to her?"

"Of course," she smiled cutely. "Niichan, who are you?"

"My name is Kuroko Tetsuya, nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, Kuroko-niichan. I'm Mihara Yuuna," the little girl opened the gate and let Kuroko in after they shook hands.

"Yuuna-chan, ah, can I call you Yuuna-chan?" Kuroko knelt in front of her.

"Okay, then Yuuna will call _niichan_ Tet-chan," Yuuna grinned and Kuroko chuckled at the way she laughed and her general cuteness.

"Yuuna-chan is adorable," he praised, ruffling her hair gently.

"Really?" Yuuna blushed, looking very happy at the compliment.

"Positive. Now, can Yuuna-chan bring _niichan_ to _baachan_?"

"Alright, follow me please." Yuuna agreed wholeheartedly and escorted Kuroko to the living room of her Japanese style house. "Please sit down, Tet-chan. I'll call for baachan first." Kuroko sat on the red cushion at the low table on top of the _tatami_ in _seiza_. With such traditional living room, it seemed appropriate to be formal, especially in a stranger's house.

Kuroko didn't have to wait for too long as several minutes later, someone joined him in the living room. "Maa, it's been awhile for me to get such a young guest." The old lady with grey hair tied into a nice bun behind her head, wearing formal red floral kimono, entered the room and sat on the pillow seat across of him, smiling friendlily. "What can I do for you, young man?"

"I apologize for disturbing your free time, Mihara-san. My name is Kuroko Tetsuya from Ki. Se. Dai. I have a few questions I'd like to ask you regarding the mansion that was built ten years ago on top of the abandoned land near this place." Kuroko greeted courteously before he proceeded to state his objection and the old lady seemed taken aback for a second.

"What is it that you want to know?" Her tone was still polite and nice, but Kuroko detected a caution in there.

"Why is the land abandoned?"

* * *

**~GoM x Kuroko~**

* * *

Midorima opened the door when the bell on the mansion rang.

"Welcome home," he said and Kuroko chuckled.

"Not our home, Midorima-kun."

"It's our momentary base, since we can't leave Kagami alone." Midorima shrugged. Kuroko tilted his head aside, seeming to catch on something.

"Did something happen?"

Midorima was silent, contemplating for awhile before answering. "We've got a Poltergeist earlier," he decided to share.

Kuroko raised his eyebrows rather high for that. "Is Kagami-kun alright?"

"He passed out for awhile from lack of sleep and exhaustion, but other than that, he's fine," Midorima informed.

"But _Poltergeist_? So soon after we started to investigate?" Kuroko sounded skeptical.

"At first we thought it was an earthquake, but then… there was rapping and knocking. You didn't feel any shaking ground when you were outside this mansion, did you?" Midorima checked and Kuroko shook his head in confirmation. "Then it was most likely a Poltergeist."

"Any moving object?" Kuroko asked again.

"Aside from the misplaced things that Kagami told us, no. Only the rapping and the knocking," Midorima pushed his glasses up his nose bridge.

"Add the foot steps that Kagami-kun heard before, then the phenomenon is escalating," Kuroko murmured lowly. Midorima had to strain his hearing to hear it. "Is it because we're here, or…"

"How about the house history?" Midorima decided to change the topic before they started to speculate whether or not they made the phenomenon worse because he didn't want to think about that.

After all, Ki. Se. Dai. Was pro. They shouldn't be wondering about such thing because they were trained to prepare for the supernatural occurrence and to finish the problem efficiently without or with only minimal damage.

"There's nothing alarming about the house itself, but… apparently, the land where the house was built _is_ problematic." Kuroko turned serious now and Midorima was somber seeing his expression.

"Let's talk inside." Midorima closed the door and they proceeded to walk to the living room where Kise and Kagami were waiting.

**#**

"So, there are nine criteria of Poltergeist occurrence. Moving objects-levitating or thrown or just moving by itself-, disappearing or misplaced objects, strange scents and odors, electrical interference, knocking or rapping or other strange noises, opening and closing doors, physical contact –getting touched, pushed, scratched, etc-, and then the change of temperature of the moving object –it will be warmer-, and last but no least the breaking things, like glass or windows shattering by themselves."

"Wait, I've got some of those criteria happened to me," Kagami frowned.

"Yeah, the noises, the misplaced things, and you getting touched in the bathroom, and the rapping, knocking and footsteps… it's definitely a poltergeist, Kagami-kun," Kise nodded apologetically.

"But, why me? Why this house?" Kagami scowled, feeling even more worried at finally getting some information. This wasn't the information that made him happy at all. "Do you mean that whatever did this isn't human?" That was the scariest part. He hated something that he couldn't explain with logic.

_Supernatural doesn't make sense, but then what can explain these things other than that?_

"Some experiments prove that half of the causes of Poltergeist phenomenon are human, especially teenage girls with unstable hormone and psychology during high stress or any people with latent psychic ability. Hypnosis method can prove if someone causes a Poltergeist, but sometimes, Poltergeist can occur because of… other beings." Kise explained.

"Like ghosts…" Kagami made a face.

"You don't believe in them, you said?" Kise stared at him with a curious look.

"Well, I am the type that can't believe what I can't see," Kagami shrugged.

"But you did see something, didn't you?" Kise inquired further and Kagami looked the other way. Because he did see things. Things that didn't make any sense. That shadow in his peripheral view, those pair of dark eyes and-

"… _be waiting for you…"_

Kagami clicked his tongue and scratched his head, frustrated. _Why the fuck did I dream about something like that?!_

He could still feel the phantom sensation of being grabbed by that skeletal hand. He shuddered and shivered in fright as he remembered it, those bony white fingers gripping his wrist, the ice-bucket cold feel on his skin...

"Do you-… do you think the ghost wants something from me?" Kagami had to gulp once before he could ask, because he couldn't fathom what he could have done to deserve this kind of scary experience. He didn't remember doing something remotely bad enough to cause someone to hold a grudge on him, moreover for a _ghost_ to make his life miserable.

"Well, I don't know. Most living people can't communicate with the dead with 'speech' so sometimes they send signal via supernatural occurrence. Maybe they do want something or maybe they are just being mischievous. Sometimes they are just lonely, and maybe want some company, but… they can be dangerous too for the living." Kise looked rather sad as he spoke, as if he was speaking from personal experience.

Kagami wanted to ask what happened to him that he chose _this_ job, but he didn't have a chance as Midorima entered the living room. "Kuroko is back."

"Kuroko-chi? Where?" Kise's eyes turned shiny and Kagami just blinked as he finally saw the bluenet walking quietly just a little bit behind Midorima.

"Hey," Kuroko greeted Kagami and gave him a small smile which for some reason made Kagami self conscious.

"H-hey," Kagami nodded at him while Kise practically threw himself at Kuroko who immediately dodged that the blonde bumped Midorima instead.

Kuroko promptly ignored Kise's wailing ( _"Kuroko-chi, so cruuuuuel!"_ ) and Midorima's chiding _("Shut up, Kise! And get off me!"_ ) and opted to sit beside Kagami on the couch. "How are you doing, Kagami-kun? I heard you fainted earlier?"

"Oh, yeah…" Kagami flushed, rather embarrassed for being lame and totally pathetic for passing out. "I'm fine now, after some sleep…"

"Supernatural phenomenon can be exhausting after all, especially for mental stability." Kuroko reached his hand to Kagami's, grasped and squeezed it lightly in a comforting gesture.

Kagami flicked his gaze at their joined hands and punctually blushed harder. Kuroko's hand was very warm and it felt really nice on his still cold, clammy one. "Thanks," Kagami murmured, smiling contently. He was glad that they were here with him. Even though he only knew them for a few days, their presence there was helping him deal with what happened with his life.

Kuroko widened his eyes slightly and was silent for a moment before saying, "Kagami-kun has a very nice smile."

"Eh?" Kagami blinked, a bit surprised.

"I like Kagami-kun's smiling face," Kuroko gave him another smile, more prominent, more gently, and it made Kagami squirm with a sudden warm feeling blossoming inside his heart. Kuroko looked extra cute when he was smiling like that.

"Kuroko-chi, what about the house record?" Kise suddenly dropped his weight on Kuroko's back and Midorima tapped Kagami's shoulder, distracting him from staring at Kuroko and Kise bickering (or Kise whining and Kuroko making a dry comment).

"Here, Kagami," Midorima offered something inside his fist.

"What?" Kagami opened his palm and blinked when Midorima dropped a small greenish charm in the form of _magatama_ (4) with two little bells dangling on the knotted red string at the tail.

"A protection charm," Midorima looked at his eyes and Kagami couldn't help moving his gaze from the charm to Midorima's own, noticing how long his eyelashes were and how beautiful Midorima's eye color was. It looked like a pair of twin emeralds, his gaze deep and thoughtful, and _wow…_ They were very mesmerizing.

"T-thanks," Kagami stuttered slightly, not knowing why he felt strange around these people.

Anyway, those three were indeed extra ordinary. Each of them had something that was very attention grabbing, like Kise with his pretty face and lean body shape, and Midorima with his mesmerizing eyes, long lashes and elegant pianist's fingers, and then Kuroko… Kuroko who was hard to notice at first, but when he smiled, he seemed to bring spring in his heart.

 _And the three of them are helping me solve my problem…—_ Kagami closed his fingers around the charm. The bells were ringing nicely while he was bringing it to his chest. He smiled softly. He couldn't help feeling very content having them around him, feeling very safe despite the oddity that happened to his life.

* * *

**~GoM x Kagami~**

* * *

"So~, about the record?" Kise inquired and Kuroko nodded.

"Alright, now I am going to explain what I know about this house," Kuroko started. "First, I checked this mansion record since it was built ten years ago. There was nothing remotely strange happening in this house since it was built, until after Kagami-kun moved in. The previous owners didn't experience any supernatural occurrence whatsoever, so this building isn't actually the problem. I figured it must have something to do with Kagami-kun."

"With me?" Kagami widened his eyes.

"I believe so. However, if that had been really the case, then I would have noticed, since I actually can feel presence and see things that want to be seen. The fact is, they probably want to be seen, but not by me," he explained further.

"Then… they want to be seen by…"

"Kagami, right?" Midorima finished Kise's sentence.

"I believe so." Kuroko nodded.

"Wait, what is this presence you're talking about?" Kagami looked confused.

"Some people call them spirits, Kagami-kun. If you believe in the afterlife, human spirits should cross over after their bodies perish, but sometimes, their feelings are very strong and attached to this world or to someone in this world that their spirits are unable to leave or rest in peace. Those spirits, if they are attached to a building, a specific place or a land, they became _Jibakurei_ or earthbound spirits. These kind of spirits cannot leave the place they are attached to. On the other hand, spirits that are attached to people cannot leave the people they are attached to, but they can move around as long as the people they are attached to do not stray too far away from them."

Kagami looked queasy as he tried to digest all the information. "Okay… so, is this earthbound spirit or… spirit that's attached to me?" he seemed dubious as he asked.

"Well, besides those two kinds, there is the third kind that is a little bit… special," Kuroko admitted and Kagami frowned.

"There's more?" Kise was surprised, even outweighing Kagami. He knew about earthbound spirit and spirit which was attached to people, but it was the first time he heard about the third kind.

 _As expected from Kuroko-chi. He's so informative. An expert of spirits from Ki. Se. Dai._ —Kise secretly smirked as Kuroko continued his elucidation.

"This type of spirits are not only earthbound, but also attached to people."

"What? How does that even work?" Kagami seemed very puzzled.

"They are earthbound, Kagami-kun. They cannot leave the place. However, they are not actively haunting the place unless a specific criteria is met."

"A specific criteria as in…" Midorima wondered loudly.

"The people they are attached to have to set their foot in those spirits' territory first to wake them up."

There was a brief silence in the room before-

"You mean _I_ cause them to activate?" Kagami set an incredulous look and Kuroko nodded solemnly.

"It seems that is the case. Because these spirits here… they never disturbed anyone before Kagami-kun came a long. These spirits had been quiet for years. They are the type of spirits that as long as the people they are attached to do not set food in their resting place, they are dormant, asleep, completely inactive." Kuroko finished.

Kagami gaped, seeming unable to perform words to express how he felt about this. Kise whistled in awe and Midorima made a noncommittal noise.

"You said that the land itself is the problem," Midorima then suddenly spoke and Kuroko blinked.

"Oh, right. This is information that I acquired by asking around, people that have been living around the land of this mansion in a long time even before the house was built. Before, this land was an abandoned land. It had been for a long time. There's no record of why the land is abandoned, but the elder people said this land was barren since they were aware. There was a record of the land being purchased privately 50 years ago, but the name of the owner that purchased the land was never mentioned in any record. There was a company name though, Nohin Corporation, but when I checked what kind of company it was, there was no such company in reality."

"A dummy company that purchased an abandoned land? How suspicious…" Kise frowned.

"Yes, it is strange, indeed, so I dug a bit deeper after I asked around the neighborhood. The law firm that took care of the purchase of the land was still around, and I went there to ask if there was any record of the land owner. They said they had it, but it was not a private corporation that owned the land, but this country." Kuroko's eyes glinted slightly in revelation and Kise gawked at him in shock, while Midorima raised both his eyebrows.

"The dummy corporation is actually _this country_?" Kagami's eyes bulged out at that.

"That's the conclusion I drew after that, indeed. So the question is, why did Japan purchase a piece of an abandoned land under dummy corporation name?" Kuroko inquired as if he were giving a quiz.

"Because the country tried to hide something _sensitive_ or _classified_ in that land and didn't want to be held responsible in case that _something_ is exposed or causing trouble," Midorima conjured and Kise was a little bit affronted.

"Really, the government _again_?" Kise hated to think that they had to deal with the _officials_. After all, most Ki. Se. Dai. members had at least one unpleasant experience dealing with those sticks in the mud. If it hadn't been for Akashi, they might have been captured and being made into lab rats or something. Especially for Kise, because his ability was quite… _fascinating_ to be studied for science, obviously, even though Kise's capability was far from science.

_Or maybe it is indeed science, just… not yet understood by society in general._

Kise didn't realize that he made a face at his own thought, but Kuroko apparently was perceptive enough to call him on it. "Do not worry, Kise-kun. I do not think they want to be involved in this particular case. After all, they have gone to such extent to hide their association in the land purchase. Besides, we are as official as they are now, thanks to Akashi-kun. We are working under independent company after all," he said while facing his way, giving him a reassuring nod.

"All right. I just don't like hearing the 'G' word," Kise pouted, rather annoyed. Though, he quickly noticed that Kagami stared at him and Kuroko with questioning eyes, apparently interested in their strange conversation, but he didn't say anything as Midorima filled in the silence soon enough.

"So, looking for the root of the problem of this land will be quite difficult then, especially if we have to seek answers from those officials." A scowl made an appearance on Midorima's face.

"Well, that is unfortunate, but we do not really have to do that, actually." Kuroko shrugged faintly. Midorima looked at him somberly and Kise immediately caught on the hidden message between Kuroko's gesture and Midorima's expression.

"Are you going to do _it_ , Kuroko-chi?" Kise broadened his eyes a bit, rapidly feeling quite excited because it was very rare for Kuroko to actually volunteer to do what he was about to do. Clearly, because the 'ceremony' was quite mentally and physically exhausting for the bluenet.

Kuroko smiled thinly at him. "I need a space for doing it, though," he said, and without further ado, no question asked despite Kagami's obvious confusion, they proceeded to do just that.

* * *

**~GoM x Kagami~**

* * *

"What is he going to do?" Kagami couldn't help asking, perplexed, as he stared at Kuroko sitting Indian style in the middle of the living room, both arms resting on his thigh, back straight, but he seemed to be quite relaxed. Kise, Midorima and Kagami were in the corner of the room, at least twenty feet away from him, sitting on brown cushions, and observing Kuroko attentively.

"Séance," Kise answered, grinning. "Kuroko-chi's specialty."

"Séance?" Now Kagami frowned, rather alarmed. That word sounded dreadfully ominous after all.

"It's Kuroko's unique ability. He was born with the power to _see_ and _communicate_ with spirits. So, it's natural that he can call them to gain information. Séance is Kuroko's gift. He can perform a ritual which let _normal_ people see _them_ too." Midorima explained to Kagami.

"But, isn't calling and communicating with spirits extremely dangerous?" Kagami paled and couldn't fight the cold shiver wreaking havoc through his body. It was honestly scary and frightening because he remembered some horror films containing such activities and it never ended well for the characters, particularly for whoever thought it was fun playing with such things in the first place.

"Yes, well… for amateur, it is. It's a lot like _Kokkuri-san_ (5) after all, but in Kuroko's case, he doesn't need any media to do it because he can see and talk to the spirits like he does to the living people," Midorima assured.

"True," Kise nodded repeatedly, making a point of supporting Midorima's assurance. "Besides, _the shadows_ are fond of him. He'll be fine!" he added enthusiastically.

"The shadows?" Kagami furrowed his brow deeper, more confused than reassured.

However, Kagami had to hold down his curiosity to get more answers of what Kise meant, because something began to happen around them. He could physically feel it. The room temperature was gradually dropping. It was obvious because he slowly felt very cold without reason even though it was _summer_ and then the light on the ceiling started to flicker while those phantom foot steps were unexpectedly heard. Kagami gripped at the jeans on his knees tightly, body tensing and rigid at the abrupt onslaught of terror inside him.

 _They're here!_ —Even Kagami himself didn't understand why he _knew_ it. But he had a very bad feeling about it and he was in the verge of grabbing Midorima or Kise to hide behind them, and yet he couldn't move a muscle. He was too afraid to move.

Kagami was startled when he felt someone's hand on his. He looked down at the hand and then upward at the owner. "It's all right, Kagami-kun. Kuroko-chi is a pro at this. No harm will come to us, I promise." Kise beamed and clutched his hand strongly and Kagami gulped once before nodding, pulling a tight smile up.

"Okay…" He decided to have more faith in these people.

Awhile later, the foot steps that seemed to walk around the house stopped and something...-Kagami wasn't sure what it was- like smoke or fog, seeped through the gap between the door and the floor. Kagami had to will his body not to bolt right away at the dark smoke-fog filling the room bit by bit, until it became very thick.

"What the hell is _that_?!" He wanted to shout in mortification, but what came out from his mouth was an under toned, high-pitch like squeal which was frankly very embarrassing coming out from a guy as big as him, but shame was the last thing he was worried about at this moment, because that smoke-fog was still growing bigger and thicker inside the room and it was almost suffocating sitting duck inside it.

"Hold out your amulet I gave you earlier, Kagami," Midorima instructed coolly and how the fuck can he be so calm about this situation while Kagami was freaking out!?

Still, Kagami obeyed him despite his internal breakdown, frantically nodded and scrambled around his pocket to retrieve the charm to hold it close to his heart once again as soon as he found it. The ringing bells were helping, but his heart still pounded so hard and fast in his chest, and perspiration wet his face and clothes. Though, he held on. Shaking badly, yes, but he believed he could take this experience until it was through.

The smoke around started to concentrate into several lumps of formless globs before gradually, they started to shape into recognizable forms. They didn't exactly look like people, but Kagami could make out the outline of limbs, the main bodies and what looked like the heads, albeit still badly deformed.

Then the general view started to clash with the still flickering light, giving out the shape of white bony skulls behind the curtain of black smoke-fog figures. Kagami gasped and clapped his mouth shut seeing the horrendous sight. He couldn't bear the view, so he closed his eyes and gritted his teeth, willing them not to chatter.

"So, you are finally here. It is an honor to meet all of you. I am Kuroko Tetsuya and I have a few questions I would like to ask you."

Kagami could hear Kuroko's voice, serene and shooting. He didn't know what caused that effect, maybe his even tone, but somehow, the suffocating feeling inside him was slightly abridged. However, it was short-lived because Kuroko's nice voice was quickly followed by drizzling, croaking noise and then hissing, as dry as leaves in autumn and as cold as ice in winter and he just knew those noise weren't possibly human, because they caused his body to shiver unpleasantly.

"Is he speaking to them?" Kagami whispered, eyes still perfectly shut, his voice quivering.

"Yes, Kagami-kun. Sssh," Kise tightened his hold on Kagami's hand and he completely welcomed the added pressure to distract his mind from the horror.

"Huh… so this land is your resting place, I see." Kuroko's cool voice was heard once again. Kagami couldn't identify the words spoken by those scratching, croaking noises that seemed to come from those spirits, but he was determined to listen to Kuroko's words, trying to understand better. "Since Heian Period?"

There was a rustle from somewhere beside Kagami. It was probably Kise or Midorima changing position.

"Why are you not resting now, then?"

Once again, those disturbing noises filled the room and then there was a long pause before-

"You do not know what caused the stir?"

Kagami still tried to concentrate to battle his own fear to open his eyes. He could do this. He could—

The rustling sound was heard once more, louder this time, before something clammy grabbed Kagami's right wrist and then he was suddenly yanked with a force so powerful that he was actually dragged aside more than two meters. "Ack!" He couldn't help yelping in shock and pain as his chin hit the floor quite hard.

"Kagami!"

"Kagami-kun!"

Midorima and Kise hastily reacted in surprise as well, shouting loudly while standing, and then hurriedly moved to Kagami's side once again. Both looked alarmed as Kagami was slowly sitting up to nurse his abused jaw, groaning.

"Are you okay? What happened?" Kise asked, looking fairly worried.

"I don't-… something yanked my wrist…!" Kagami then raised his right hand, inspecting his wrist as his other hand was still stroking his hurting jaw. There were some distinct bruises in a form of fingers starting to form on the inside of his wrist. "What the heck…?!"

"Let me see," Midorima opened his palm and Kagami hesitantly showed his hand. Midorima frowned as he saw the reddening mark. "This is worse than I thought…"

"Midorima-chi," Kise called and both Midorima and Kagami turned to face him. Kise pointed at something on the ground and Kagami gasped while Midorima widened his eyes as they saw it.

It was the magatama charm that Midorima handed to Kagami earlier and it was on fire.

"What the—?!" It was a rock and it was _on fire_! How the hell did that happen?!

"What's going on?" Kuroko then showed up, apparently abandoning his ritual to see the situation in Kagami's party. He looked considerably pale, several beads of sweat adorning his face.

"Kuroko-chi! What about the Séance?" Kise seemed surprised as he looked upward at the slightly panting bluenet. He seemed tired.

"It is done. They were pulled away by something earlier," Kuroko's brow furrowed slightly. "I do not really know what happened, but it seems that… there is something more sinister than those spirits here," he informed as he knelt, paced his breath, before then inspected Kagami's wrist which was still in Midorima's palm.

"What do you mean by something sinister?" Kagami gulped fearfully, feeling his bad omen worsening somehow.

"Spirits don't usually react so violently if they aren't strong," Kise mumbled.

"It means there's something strong and hostile in this house," Midorima confirmed and Kuroko nodded at him, looking concerned.

"Yes, and from my and the other spirits' conversation just now, I knew that they were supposed to be asleep here, but they were stirred awake by something, probably that hostile spirit, when Kagami set foot in this house for the first time. Roughly two years ago, I presumed?" He turned to Kagami for confirmation and Kagami nodded. "Then our problem is only with that hostile spirit. Unfortunately, I could not see the true form of that spirit earlier. I am afraid we need more preparation to draw that particular spirit to the front line if we want to remove its presence from here."

"Will we have to resort in doing _jorei_ (6) to the spirit?" Kise asked, seeming even more bothered.

"I hope it doesn't have to come to that, but this spirit is particularly invested in Kagami-kun," Kuroko pressed his lips together in determined look. "If this spirit comes to harm him, we do not have any choice but to remove it forcefully."

"Kuroko-chi…" Kise looked sympathetic and Midorima softened his expression as he looked at Kuroko as well.

"Um," Kagami said, trying to gain their attention, and it worked because the three of his guests then turned to face him. "So… what happens now?"

"Well…" Kuroko stared at him for sometime, up and down, apparently considering something that made Kagami a bit uncomfortable. "It will be quicker if we have Kagami-kun as a bait to fish that spirit out, but seeing what it just did, I do not think it is worth the risk," he said, sighing.

"Then we should just put something else as a replacement for the bait, right?" Kise grinned and both Kuroko and Midorima looked at him with some kind of silent approval. Kise's grinned widened while Kagami stared at those three in confusion, totally lost at their eyes communication.

"What do you mean by replacement?"

Kise just winked at him as he proudly made a peace sign. "My special ability is handy for something like this."

"Eh?" If it was possible, Kagami got even more bewildered at such cryptic explanation.

* * *

**~GoM x Kagami~**

* * *

The next day, Kagami was asked to wait outside the house while Kuroko and Midorima prepared something inside, in the living room. Kise was suspiciously missing from the morning and afternoon assemble, and both Kuroko and Midorima only said that the blond was preparing his own role in the 'whatever they were doing' activity.

"What are they doing inside, I wonder…" Kagami paced back and forth near the living room window. Once in awhile he glanced at the rectangle glass just a few steps from him. The curtain was drawn closed, so he couldn't see what was happening on the inside, but he was also very curious despite being scared of seeing something horrendous like what he saw yesterday, or experienced something awful like being yanked by supernatural force. He still shuddered as he remembered that _event_.

Kagami sighed deeply now. He looked upward and spotted three ventilation holes above the window and since his curiosity won over his fear, he decided to take a peek. Kagami looked around to find something that he could use to be a stepping stone so he could reach the ventilation hole. He settled with a crate that he found near the shed that was used as the storage room at the backyard. He dragged it in front of the window and then stood on top of it before reaching up at the ventilation and gripped the edge with both hands and all fingers.

Kagami pulled himself upward and took a sneak-peek inside.

There was someone in the middle of the room, standing on some kind of a circle with strange letters surrounding it. His back was on Kagami and he wore a red hoodie and his posture was lax, completely at ease. At first, he thought it was Kise judging from the height, but the thickness of his body was wrong for Kise. Kagami somehow felt familiar seeing that form, though, so it must have been someone he knew.

_Huh? Where did I see him again?_

Storing the question at the back of his head, he looked around more and found Kuroko at the guy's side outside the circle and Midorima on the guy's other side. Kagami tilted his head slightly to see further, but nothing seemed to be out of ordinary except the circle in the middle of the living room and the guy.

"The preparation is set."

A tiny voice that Kagami recognized as Kuroko's said and then-

"Bring it on."

 _Huh?_ —Kagami widened his eyes as he heard that voice. That low tenor, rather husky voice. After all, it was a very familiar voice, a voice that he heard everyday… every time, when _Kagami_ himself spoke.

When the hooded guy turned aside slightly, Kagami was able to see his face and-

"HUUUUUUUUUH?!"

Almost popping his eyes out of their sockets aside, how shocked do you think he was when that face turned out to be Kagami's own face?

**End of Part 2**

**Tbc…**

* * *

**Additional Notes:**

**1)** _ **Bonji**_ **:** Old Japanese letters

 **2)** _ **Niichan**_ **:** Big brother

 **3)** _ **Baachan**_ **:** Grandmother

 **4)** _ **Magatama**_ **:** a green stone in the shape of yin or yang

 **5)** _ **Kokkuri-san**_ **:** Ouija Board, amateur spirit calling ritual

 **6)** _ **Jorei**_ **:** exorcism, to purposely and forcefully remove spirits from things, places or people

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God, it took me forever to make this chapter. I could only write some sentences down per trial to update since I have so little time these days to write fan fic. I wish I had more time, but this even pushed it too far. It seems I won't be sleeping tonight *sighs*
> 
> Well, any thought? Sorry if this seems rushed. I thought it through as best as I could, which answers and climax will be written in part 3. I wanted to finish this File 1 ASAP so I can go back to plotting for my other fics.


	3. Ki. Se. Dai. 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kise finally reveals his gift! Kagami butts in the ritual, Midorima is trying his hardest as always and the spirit that is after Kagami shows itself! Then... Kuroko's other gift makes an appearance...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait everyone~. Here's chapter 3. Now ENJOY!  
>  **Disclaimer & Warning: _See Part 1._**

**Part 3** _**  
**_

* * *

There was a very loud thudding sound from the outside. Three heads immediately snapped and turned to face the window from which it was heard and three pairs of eyes blinked at the groaning noise which followed after that.

…

"Just now, was that…?" Midorima trailed off.

"Probably Kagami-kun," Kuroko let out a deep sigh, partly resigned. "And we warned him not to peek on us too…"

A chuckle from the third guy in the room stole Kuroko and Midorima's attention away from the window. "He's probably freaking out right about-…"

A door to the living room in Kagami's mansion was slammed open.

"…-now."

"What the _fuck_!?" Kagami cussed while barging in, eyes as wide as saucers and mouth gaping like a fish out of water. His index finger was shaking as he pointed at the guy in the middle of the circle. "How… how the hell _—_?! Who are you?! Why are you wearing _my face_?!" and he screamed at _him_ in total panic.

"Yep, pretty much freaking out, huh?" the guy in the middle of circle, the one who was mirroring Kagami's face and built shook his head and shrugged at the same time.

"Wha—?!" Kagami was still gawking as his 'twin' chuckled at his shocked expression. Then he stepped out of the circle and started to walk approaching Kagami. "W-wait, what are you—"

"Kagami- _chi_ , it's _me_ ," Kagami's look-alike spoke in a teasing manner, pointing at his own cheek and smiling, but his voice was still rather gruff since it was Kagami's voice.

"H-huh? Wait a—! Kagami- _chi_?!" Apparently Kagami realized who he was upon hearing the familiar way of calling by adding the strange suffix in the name that came out from his mirror and probably form the way he acted. "Are you _Kise_?!" Once again, his eyes almost popped out of their sockets. Calling it a surprise was utterly an understatement since Kagami looked like he was about to blow in total shock.

" _Pin-pon_!" Kise made a 'correct' sound effect while grinning. Both Kuroko and Midorima just sighed, probably amused but also exasperated at the same time. "But I'm still calling you Kagami-kun for the time being until I have a reason to call you with _that_ suffix," he winked right after, evidently bewildering Kagami even more.

"I don't want that suffix in my name!" Kagami quickly exclaimed after the initial shock seemed to wear off. "But holly hell… how the fuck did you turn into _me_?! Is this even possible? Am I hallucinating? Or are you wearing some kind of holographic device that can change your appearance so _completely_ like that?" Then the bombarding questions started. It appeared that he was very awed by Kise's transformation. He even couldn't stop staring at him now.

Kise's grin widened. "Well, this is my special ability. I can _appear_ like anyone for a period of time as long as the condition is met," he said proudly.

"But how?" Kagami still looked very curious. "How does that even work?"

"Uh… I don't think you really want to know the detail of _how_ I can do it." Now Kise laughed sheepishly, honestly feeling rather uncomfortable. "The process is kinda… painful and very _disgusting_." He let out a rather dismayed snort after that, thinking about the hopelessness of him explaining without wincing.

"Huh?" Kagami tilted his head aside slightly in puzzled expression.

"Kise-kun is a _shape-shifter_ , Kagami-kun," Kuroko saved Kise from having to explain further, since the blue haired boy knew why Kise was reluctant to talk about this particular _gift_ of his. "He was born _that way_ ," he continued evenly.

Kagami didn't seem to understand as he turned to face Kuroko. Kise practically could see several question marks all over his face. Midorima took a pity on him as he also provided some clarification after that. "Kise is a _creature_ ," he said. "Just like Kuroko who was born with the ability to see and communicate with the dead, Kise was born with the ability to shape-shift."

"What do you mean a _creature_?" Kagami furrowed his brow, seemingly perplexed now with the unusual reference.

"A _creature_ is a being that is different from human and yet unable to be categorized as other beings like animals, plants, and/or microorganism. However, since it is _mortal_ and actually has physical form, it can't be categorized as supernatural being either. The existence of creatures is very rare. They are practically a very exotic being, a natural mishap that only happens once in several decades." Midorima elucidated further.

"One of its examples is a _Kudan_ , a creature born from an animal which can speak human language and predict the future in exchange of its very short life." Kuroko added some.

"So you mean… it's some kind of genetic mutation?" It was a wonder that Kagami even had that phrase in his vocabulary. Apparently he wasn't as airheaded as Kise and the others had thought initially. Kise raised his eyebrows as well as both Midorima and Kuroko at his unsure conclusion. "What?" Now Kagami looked cautious when he noticed their rather stunned gaze.

"Um, in science they indeed call me a _mutant_ ," Kise nodded, partially concurring Kagami's opinion. "Though, I prefer _creature_. It sounds cooler and more mysterious, yeah?" He grinned again.

"Even though Kise can be called a mutant," Midorima started again, completely ignoring Kise's view that annoyed Kise a little bit, "-the _alteration_ of his genetic sequence is too massive to actually happen in natural order. After all, he has the ability to control the _change_ in his DNA that allows him to transform his appearance as he likes. No _mutated_ beings can actually do that generally, so Kise is undoubtedly special."

Kise blushed slightly hearing Midorima's flattering words. "Aww, Midorima-chi! I didn't know you think so highly of me!" He squealed… with Kagami's look and voice that seemed to cause the others to cringe.

"Can you please not acting like that with my face? It's creepy!" Kagami protested sounding outright aggravated as his body shuddered.

"Boo! Kagami-kun is a party pooper." Kise pouted at him. "Oh well, since Kagami-kun has a nice physic and his face is actually very pleasant to look at if he smiles a lot more, I'll let that slide. I'm glad that I actually have a chance to try his body." He quickly fixed his mood by smiling and twirling a little, fully enjoying his new appearance, but somehow Kagami's eyes twitched badly and Kuroko stared at Kise with such deadpanned expression that he couldn't help feeling that he had said something wrong. "What?" he tilted his head aside at them.

Midorima coughed. "Kise…" He pushed his glasses up his nose bridge and glared at him. "That's sexual harassment," he chided.

"Whaaaat?!" Kise immediately snapped to look at Midorima with large eyes after he almost tripped on his own foot, very offended with the green haired teen's remark. "But I'm complimenting Kagami-kun! That's mean, Midorima-chi!"

"For some reason I feel violated…" Kagami staggered to the sofa, his body shaking and his face paling slightly.

"Do not worry, Kagami-kun, we will punish Kise-kun later." Kuroko got close to the larger teen and patted the small of his back in consolation before he turned to stare at Kise again with hard eyes.

"Eeeh?! Not you too, Kagami-kun, Kuroko-chi!" Kise instantly whined for getting such unfair treatment. What did he do?

"Please tell me you _didn't_ actually touch inappropriate places when you're wearing that body." Midorima was quite unmerciful as he narrowed his eyes at Kise in suspicion.

Kise's Kagami's face flushed hot instantly as he heard it. "W-w-what are you saying, Midorima-chi?! Of course not! That's so rude! I'm a gentle man! I won't do such things to our client, you meanie!" and of course he had to complain more because seriously, did his friends have no faith at all in his professionalism? True, Kagami's built was very attractive and he was a cute guy personality wise, but it didn't mean Kise would abuse his own gift like that just because he could and was a bit interested in their client for god's sake!

"There, you heard him, Kagami-kun. Kise-kun would not dare _touch_ you inappropriately because it is violating our company rule." Kuroko gave Kagami a small reassuring smile. What he forgot to mention was that Akashi would kill Kise himself if he dared to break his number one rule.

_I still want to continue living, thank you very much._

Kise sulked for awhile as Kagami turned to face him once again, opened his mouth seeming about to say something, but then he closed it again, sheepishly shaking his head before sighing. "So… what were you guys doing before I barged in?"

**#**

"We're going to do séance once again, but this time, we intend to capture only the hostile spirit and ignore the others." Midorima explained shortly, thinking that there was no need to explain all the procedures. Kagami just needed the result, not the way they worked. Frankly, he should stay out of this because his presence in the house would only disturb the ritual.

Besides, what was the point of having Kise appear as Kagami to be the _bait_ if the real Kagami was in the room? They didn't want to put their client in unnecessary risk, remember?

"Kagami-kun should stay outside," Kuroko suggested with flat tone, voicing Midorima's exact thought.

"Am I interrupting?" Now, the red head looked contrite.

"Not exactly interrupting, but you have to remember that the hostile spirit is after you, Kagami-kun. We just don't want to put you in harm's way," Kise patted Kagami's shoulder friendlily and gave him a rueful smile. It seemed that his sulking period was over since he tried to lift Kagami's mood.

"Oh, right… there's that too… huh?" Kagami blinked, apparently realizing something. "Wait. So, Kise changed into me to be the _bait_ to fish out the hostile spirit?" He looked upward at Kise, Kuroko and Midorima for confirmation and they nodded at the same time. Kagami's expression changed in a blink of eyes. "Don't do that!" He sounded angry after that.

"What?" Kise widened his eyes, Kuroko just stared in indescribable expression and Midorima raised his eyebrows in surprise at his sharp tone.

"That means you guys are putting Kise in danger instead of me, right? Don't do that! I don't want any of you to get hurt in my place!" Kagami continued raising his voice and he looked very worried now.

"Kagami-kun…" Kise gazed at him with large moist eyes, seemingly touched and Kuroko softened his look while Midorima only sighed deeply, honestly rather troubled seeing how soft-hearted their client was. Kagami was the type of client that was slightly a pain to deal with because he was too caring. Though, Midorima couldn't help appreciating his concern for their safety.

"It is the only way, though… because the hostile spirit is only interested in Kagami," he said slowly, bringing the others back from the Kagami-induced daydream. Kagami jerked and sent him a somehow apprehensive glare. Sometimes Midorima hated to be the voice of reason.

"Relax, Kagami-kun. We're pro, remember? It's in our job description to solve supernatural problem, including dealing with the risk." Kise winked again, beaming with encouraging smile that seemed bizarre coming from Kagami's face which he was wearing at the moment. It was indeed odd for Midorima (and most likely for Kuroko too) who saw their interaction. They really looked like twins this way after all.

"Kise…" Kagami still looked anxious, though.

"There is nothing to be upset about, Kagami-kun," and Kuroko took his cue to comfort Kagami too. "We are trained to protect ourselves from evil spirit. We promise we will be out in no time, safe and sound." At least Kuroko's voice was steady and even though he was still as expressionless as the wall, he sounded confident with their abilities.

Kagami's expression turned slightly relieved as he heard that, but then he glanced at Midorima too, with some kind of expectation in his crimson eyes. Did Kagami want Midorima to say something to reassure him too? Was he still worried if they would get hurt or something?

Midorima sighed again, pushing his glasses up his nose bridge once more. He wasn't as good as both Kise and Kuroko at comforting words. Well, he could at least make Kagami understand that they were only doing their job. "No fuss. I have them hold some protective charms. They won't get hurt unnecessarily."

Kagami sent him an amused smirk. "That includes you too right?"

Midorima frowned at that. "Of course, I am a master at protective charm and prediction. I'll always be protected by default."

"Then you can make sure I am protected too if I stay here." Kagami's smirk widened and Midorima looked upward in surprise. "Right?" He looked so smug it was kind of a little bit bothersome.

Midorima scowled at Kagami after realizing that he had been tricked into agreeing to that. After all, he was quite proud with his ability and denying Kagami's statement negated what Midorima had said earlier. Kise snickered at him and Kuroko just shook his head in defeat.

"Alright, you can stay, but you're not allowed to interrupt the ritual, and please don't move from your spot. Just hold the charm the whole time so it can conceal your existence from the spirit." Midorima warned as he fished out some _O-Fuda_ from his pants pocket.

Midorima moved to approach Kagami and then gave him one _Fuda_ to hold. He stuck one paper on Kagami's chest, one on his back, and one on each arms. Now Kagami was protected from four ways. He contemplated sticking one more charm on Kagami's forehead to anticipate the attack from above, but then Kagami had looked silly enough with four _Fuda_ on his body. He would look like a _kyonshi_ (1) if he added another one on his brow.

"What?" Kagami raised his eyebrows at him in confusion because apparently Midorima was staring at his face for too long in his silent musing.

"Ah? No, well… I'm determining whether or not it's necessary to stick one more _Fuda_ on your forehead, you know… just in case the spirit attacks from the top," he said honestly.

"What?" Kagami made another confused face and Kise failed to stifle his giggle. It sounded very, and he meant _very_ weird coming from Kagami's face and voice. Kuroko though, was more discrete in his laughter because he only couched a bit to cover his chuckle.

Kagami looked extra baffled at their apparent amusement. Well, he didn't know about _kyonshi_ , unlike Midorima and his colleagues. "Don't mind them. Just… don't move," he reminded once again before he decided to stick that one _O-Fuda_ to Kagami's forehead. Better safe than sorry.

"I must look really ridiculous right now…" Kagami muttered while sighing unhappily after Midorima was done sticking all the charms and stepped back to resume his position outside the circle.

"At least we won't have to be worried that you'd get attacked this way, Kagami-kun," Kise laughed now, entirely giving up on holding back.

"Go back inside the circle, Kise. We're resuming the ritual," Midorima barked at him.

"Sir, yes sir!" Kise saluted, looking very foolish because he was still wearing Kagami's body and Kagami visibly blushed as he saw that. Kuroko coughed again, mumbling something about _he_ was the one who should order Kise around because Kuroko was the guy with the séance gift and _probably_ laughing on the inside, while Midorima just shook his head in fond exasperation at their friend's antics.

* * *

**~GoM x Kagami~**

* * *

Kagami couldn't help staring unblinking as the other three of his companions restarted the ritual. The living room wasn't completely dark because the blind didn't entirely block the sunlight, some tiny streams were still visible between the cracks here and there, but it was dim enough for his sight that he had to squint to see the surrounding more clearly.

He stood still on his spot, just like what Midorima had asked him to do, and observed quietly as Kuroko started to mumble some kind of chants or spells. He wasn't fully sure of what Kuroko was saying, but when he started to speak, somehow, the room began to get cooler. The temperature was slowly dropping, Kagami realized, because the Goosebumps started to appear on his skin. It was kind of chilly…

Kagami felt a sweep of breeze on his arm and he hitched slightly. _What was that, just now? There's no way that_ that _was wind… the windows and the door are all closed!_

Kagami conspicuously rubbed at his lower arm and tried hard to stay focused on the circle in the middle of the room despite the feeling of dread upon experiencing something weird again. Kise's… _alright_ , Kagami's expression on Kise was quite somber. Though he couldn't help thinking how Kise felt when he was wearing his body like that, just to distract himself from the fear.

Earlier, Kise had said that he was quite glad to try Kagami's body, as if it were some kind of clothes, but Kagami was also pretty intrigued when Kise said the process of how he could transform into Kagami was quite painful and _disgusting_. If it was such a pain to do, how come Kise was willing to do that? Besides, he was becoming the bait for an evil spirit by wearing Kagami's face. He also said there was a condition which had to be met in order for him to be able to transform.

" _I need to be around you for a few more hours…"_

Kagami suddenly recalled Kise's reason for sticking around him the whole time yesterday, when he was about to use the toilet and Kise insisted on following him. _Is that the condition? Or is there something else…?_

Kagami was snapped out of his train of thought when he heard something swishing around the room. He was very surprised because the sound was very clear, like someone was actually moving around the room. However, Kagami was unable to see anything that moved, only hearing the movement.

"Some spirits are here," Kuroko said… or was that a whisper? Kagami wasn't certain because even a whisper in that situation sounded like normal voice. He just gulped and focused on Kuroko whose eyeballs were moving around the room even though there was nothing in the air.

Kuroko really looked like he was seeing them. Well, Kuroko indeed could see them. He had proved his _gift_ yesterday by performing séance that allowed even Kagami, together with Midorima and Kise, to see those spirits. Kuroko said they had been there since Heian period and whatever had disturbed their resting was attached to Kagami and that land particularly. Still, Kagami seriously couldn't remember if he had done something that caused a person to have grudge on him… or if he had disrespected some kind of sacred place that earned him a curse or something equally horrifying.

"None of you is the spirit that is after Kagami-kun, please step aside." Kuroko warned and narrowed his eyes at whatever he was seeing, but then he seemed taken aback as suddenly his right cheek was cut and blood dripped from the wound.

"Kuroko-chi?!" Kise shouted in alarm and was about to move, but Kuroko immediately raised his left hand to stop him while his right touched the wound on his cheek. He glanced at the blood with a glum look.

"It was just _kamaitachi_ (2), Kise-kun. I am alright," Kuroko then shifted his gaze at Kise, his voice and expression still calm. Midorima bit his lower lip and Kagami gripped his charm harder until his fists trembled. He had wanted to jump and run to Kuroko so badly when he saw the cut and the blood, but he refrained himself.

"There is something strange, however. Just like I suspected when I spoke with them yesterday, these spirits are 'hollow'." Kuroko turned serious once again. "It is as if they were just being used."

"You mean they are being controlled by the evil spirit?" Midorima looked at Kuroko with a grimace and Kuroko nodded curtly.

"I am afraid so… the evil spirit seems to be quite powerful. Kise-kun, brace yourself. Some of these spirits might try to 'touch' you." Kuroko warned and Kise smirked.

"Roger that." Kise made some kind of hand gesture inside the circle, attaching both his thumbs and forefingers to each other while the other six fingers were folded inside his palm.

Kagami felt very helpless seeing them. He didn't know what was going on, but he hated the feeling of being utterly useless. This was his problem, and true he was paying them to do their job, but he was just dissatisfied for only being protected. Kise risked his safety by being the bait in his place. Kuroko spent his energy by doing séance and Midorima was doing his best to protect all of them with his charms. If only Kagami could do something to ease their struggle and help…!

Kise's (Kagami's) body was suddenly jarred upward sharply. The movement was very unnatural, like there was something unseen purposely doing that, surprising all of them. " _Rin_!" Midorima shouted and threw some… _powdery substance_ in front of Kise. There was a spark as if it had hit something and it fogged aside. "I can't see anything, Kuroko!" he hissed in consternation.

"I apologize, Midorima-kun. They are not allowing me to show their true nature to you and Kise-kun. Whatever it is that controls them already knew about my ability and it blocks your 'sight'," Kuroko closed his eyes like he was concentrating harder. "I will try to convince them to open the _blind_."

Kagami clenched and unclenched his hands and gritted his teeth in trepidation when more cut wounds abruptly appeared on Kuroko's slender body and the boy yelped in shock.

"Kuroko, you're bleeding too much! My charm isn't strong enough to protect you from the _kamaitachi_!" Midorima was getting worried if his raised voice was an indicator.

"Ah… the _kamaitachi_ is indeed troublesome," Kuroko exhaled rather hard as his face contorted slightly in pain. Kamaitachi wasn't supposed to cut that deep. The wind was definitely not normal. Kagami suspected that whatever had caused it intended to harm Kuroko.

"Kuroko-chi, should we stop this?" Kise seemed to be getting anxious as well when he looked at Kuroko's appearance which was rather worse for wear.

"No… the evil spirit that targets Kagami-kun has not revealed itself yet. If only it showed up, then I would know what to do with it." Kuroko's breath was getting fast and shallow as well and Kagami couldn't stand it anymore seeing how haggard the blue haired boy was.

"That's enough!" Kagami let go of his charm, took off all the O-Fuda on his body and stepped up, obviously surprising the others. "Stop it already! You're bleeding and hurting! This isn't worth risking your life!"

"Kagami, you idiot! Don't just suddenly move like—!" Midorima widened his eyes and gawped in horror while Kise looked terrorized as he seemed to see something behind Kagami.

"Kagami-kun! Behind you!" He yelled and pointed at the air slightly above Kagami's head in total fright.

"Eh?" Kagami enlarged his eyes when something suddenly pierced his heart from his back.

A very pale skeletal hand went out through his chest and Kagami felt the sharp pain like he was being stabbed by a knife. His vision blurred and he could almost see his own blood bursting from the area which pain was the most intense.

However, before he could scream in agony, his consciousness was robbed away by the immediate darkness which seemed to come out of nowhere, swallowing him up wholly.

And in the midst of losing it so completely, he could faintly hear Kuroko's shout, calling his name…

* * *

**~GoM x Kagami~**

* * *

Kagami heard someone's voice.

No… it wasn't just a voice.

It was a series of sobbing sounds.

Someone was crying.

_Like the sound of rain…._

Kagami opened his eyes and he saw _that place_ again.

_I know this place._

Kagami didn't get why he thought that way, but _that place_ felt very familiar.

It was just a deserted land… with nothing but hard rocks and some old big stone pipes, things which were abandoned by the people in the neighborhood since a long time ago. There was neither tree nor grass growing in there, just inanimate objects… not even an insect lived there or even other small animals. It was a pretty boring place, but when Kagami was still a child no older than seven, he often played in there. Sometimes he would play hide and seek with his friends and other time he would come alone and hid inside the pipe to enjoy some snacks.

That day, he was inside the lowest stone pipe by himself to eat some cookies that he got from the granny next door, who had been kind enough to share her baking after he wandered inside her porch because he had smelled the delicious treats from his home yard. Kagami didn't particularly see the dark clouds which had been accumulated in the sky as he was happily munching the sweets. He didn't realize that it was raining until after he heard the sound of thunder rolling from the outside.

Kagami actually wanted to go home as soon as possible, but then it started raining very hard and he didn't bring his rain coat or umbrella, and the sound of thunder roaring was very close, as if it were just mere inches from the ground, and Kagami was afraid. It was dark and cold. He was alone and scared. He wanted to go home. He wanted his mommy. She must have been worried because he wasn't home yet in this rain storm.

" _Hello."_

Kagami shrieked when he suddenly heard the soft voice from behind. He actually jumped up, forgetting that he was inside a pipe that his head collided with its roof. _"Ow, ow, ow~~~! Wh-who is that?!"_ He couldn't help shouting while nursing his painful top now, squatting and trembling, totally frightened.

" _Hey now… are you alright? You hit your head pretty hard…"_

Kagami squinted in the dark and slowly he could make out a shadow of a person. A kid… slightly taller than him, scrawny, and he had straight black hair which was grown rather long, until bellow his neck. His long bang covered part of his face, the right side, until Kagami could only make out one eye in the color of dark purple.

" _W-wha…? Don't suddenly come up like that without announcing your presence first! You scared me to death!"_ Kagami complained at the boy then, almost crying.

" _I'm sorry… I thought you already noticed me. I have been here since you entered this pipe, you know,_ " the boy sounded and looked apologetic as he spoke, a small smile adorning his face. For some reason Kagami thought that he was such a gloomy kid. It might have been because of his look. He was rather pretty, though. His skin was very pale and he had beauty mark under her left eye.

" _I didn't see you,"_ Kagami scowled at him. _"Who are you? I've never seen you around here."_ But, he was also kind of curious because he really hadn't noticed him earlier. Did he sit at the other end of the pipe entrance? Besides, his face was really unfamiliar.

" _I'm Himuro Tatsuya. I recently moved here."_ the boy introduced himself with another smile. _"What's your name?"_

" _Kagami Taiga,"_ answered Kagami slowly, not releasing his gaze from Himuro's visible eye. _"You recently moved here? Where did you come from?"_ Now he wanted to know more about Himuro.

" _From a rather faraway place,"_ Himuro said, but he didn't elaborate further and spoke again instead. _"Kagami Taiga… can I call you Taiga?"_

" _Sure… and I'll call you Tatsuya."_ It was fair if he called the person that called his given name with his given name.

" _Deal,"_ Himu-…no, _Tatsuya_ gave him a kind smile. _"So… Taiga, why are you here alone in this rain?"_

" _I was just eating my cookies here and didn't realize that it was raining until it was too late,"_ Kagami looked down, a bit miserable for being reminded of his predicament. _"And I can't possibly go home on foot in this rain…"_

" _Oh, wait a moment,"_ Tatsuya then moved back and rummaged through a small purple bag that he brought with him. _"I bring an umbrella. Do you want to share mine?"_ Then he pulled out a small folded dark colored umbrella and offered it to Kagami.

" _I can share it with you?"_ Kagami widened his eyes, his mood lifted and his heart moved that Tatsuya was very kind to him.

" _Sure, I can accompany you home, Taiga."_ Tatsuya grinned and then took his hand. Together, they got out of the pipe into the rain and then went home hand in hand.

_That's right… That was my first meeting with Tatsuya…_

Older Kagami witnessed the scene like a movie instead of experiencing his memories. It was really surreal, but for some reason, he had forgotten this memory before he started to watch it like this.

_Why do I suddenly see this? Tatsuya… it's been so long since I saw him… The last time was ten years ago, the evening before I went abroad. Tatsuya and I had been best friends since the first time we met. We pulled pranks on the neighborhood and got yelled at by the elders. We had fun climbing monkey bars and played swings in the park. We were always together. We were inseparable, like actual brothers. The majority of our good time together was always filled with many adventures…_

At least until Kagami's family had to move to Los Angeles because of his father's business. Kagami had refused at first because he didn't want to leave all his friends, especially Himuro, but then what a barely seven year old could do to stop his parents? _None_. In the end he still moved away, but the day before that…

 _Huh?_ —Kagami couldn't remember. There was no memory of the day before he went. _But…I'm sure that there was something important which happened that day…_

_That day…_

A flash of Tatsuya's sad face entered his mind. _Huh?_

" _ **I'm waiting for you."**_

Kagami froze and all his body hair stood on end as he heard the croaky whisper and felt an icy breath on his right ear. He slowly, oh so very slowly turned his head around to see-

" _ **You're finally here…"**_

A rotten, peeled off face of Himuro Tatsuya grinned sinisterly at Kagami, both his skeletal arms around his side and shoulder.

**#**

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"

"Kagami-kun!" Kuroko slapped Kagami's face hard, but for some reason the larger teen didn't seem to feel it at all. His eyes were wide open, his pupil constricted so hard it was almost gone completely and he continued screaming in total horror.

Kagami had collapsed like a marionette with cut off strings after that dark smoky thing went through his body. After that, he started to convulse and now he was screaming like he had seen hell. He might have, judging from his very shocked and terrified expression at the moment. Whatever that thing showed Kagami must have attacked his central nervous system. If the convulsion didn't stop, Kagami might hurt himself and the others.

"Kise-kun, hold him down tighter!" Kuroko instructed. Kise had been holding Kagami's shoulders down on the ground for almost five minutes after he started convulsing. "Midorima-kun, how is the charm to get rid of that spirit residue from Kagami's body?" Then he turned to his other friend who had been busy writing down some letters on some papers since they realized that Kagami was affected very badly by the spirit's touch and was having some kind of allergic reaction to it. Though, it was more psychological than physical, but it actually affected his body too much to be a normal reaction.

"I'm writing as fast as I can!" Midorima shouted, probably a bit panicked because it was the first time they dealt with this kind of crisis. They should have left Kagami outside after all. He most likely blamed himself right now.

Kuroko bit his lower lip and looked upward at the black smoke that was still hovering above Kagami. A pair of blood-crimson eyes was staring at the boy writhing on the ground frostily and Kuroko immediately addressed him. "Hey you, let go of him." His voice was composed but grave and the eyes shifted their focus on Kuroko.

Kuroko could almost make out a sinister smirk on the black smoky thing.

"He is not yours to torment. I do not know what has caused this… this anger of yours towards him. But Kagami-kun is a nice boy. He does not deserve to be treated like this." Kuroko was pretty angry with that spirit. It didn't have right to do such thing to Kagami.

" _ **Oh, but you're wrong… Taiga is mine."**_

Midorima and Kise jerked upward in shock and Kuroko looked at them with wide disbelieving eyes. "You guys heard that?"

"We did," Midorima and Kise looked at each other, their faces pale and looking baffled. "But how could we…?"

"This is bad…!" Instantaneously, Kuroko had an epiphany.

"Kuroko-chi, how come we also heard its voice? We shouldn't be able to… we don't have your gift." Kise sounded awfully nervous now.

"Kuroko… this _thing…_ is not just a spirit, is it?" Midorima's hand had stopped working, heavy perspiration trickling down from his temples to his cheeks and neck. Couldn't blame him. If they were dealing with something else, Midorima's charm wouldn't work. He wrote it on assumption that they dealt with an evil spirit after all.

"This… this is…!" Kuroko took a sharp breath.

" _ **Don't get in my way!"**_ Massive _kamaitachi_ blew around Kagami's body so suddenly.

"Ow!" Kise's body was thrown back almost three feet with numerous cuts on his arms, cheeks and his clothes. Some stray _kamaitachi_ blasted towards Midorima, shredding his paper charms and wounding his fingers that he had to move back stridently. He yelped in shock at that and the rest went to Kuroko who had to cover his face with the inside of his crossed arms to block some of the attack. But he was still pushed back until his feet skidded, creating some scratching marks on the marble floor and he only stopped as his back connected to the window sill with a hard slam.

"Ugh…!" Kuroko fell on his knees in the aftershock, both hands on the largest wounds on his upper arms. He had to hug himself to cover them and give some pressure because if the bleeding didn't stop, he would feel faint and wouldn't be able to proceed with the ritual. They had to save Kagami!

"Kuroko!"

"Kuroko-chi!"

Both Midorima and Kise shouted at him agitatedly before they gasped in total dread as Kagami's still convulsing body was unexpectedly lifted from the ground by some invisible force, floating near the black smoky thing which without more ado cloaked him like a swarm of black bugs.

"Oh, crap! Kagami-kun!" Kise screeched.

"Damn it!" Midorima took some of his O-Fuda, probably intending to throw them at Kagami to get him down, but Kuroko knew it would be futile if the O-Fuda wasn't specifically made to ward off _that thing._

It couldn't be helped. Kuroko had to 'borrow' his _friends'_ gift.

"Let Kagami-kun go!" Kuroko yelled ominously at the thing while he opened the curtain on the window, letting some sunlight in and darkening some parts of the room which weren't exposed by it in contrast. He could feel the shift of power within him. His blood droplets on the floor swirled and it was absorbed by the marble and something dark rose from the shadowy ground and it instantly slashed the black smoky thing away from Kagami's body.

"Kuroko-chi!" Kise's face brightened slightly and Midorima's expression shifted from total worry to slight concern.

The shadows were peeling the swarm off of Kagami's body and by the time it warped him up completely, separating it from the black smoky thing, Kagami's body had stopped convulsing. He was still unconscious, but at least they wouldn't have to worry about self harm this way.

" _ **How dare you…! You pesky little brat…!"**_ Black smoky thing sounded furious as it couldn't get its swarm-like paws on Kagami anymore and shifted his attack on Kuroko as a pulse of energy blasted in the air, almost throwing Kuroko off the ground if the shadows were a bit late in moving to block it. _**"What…!?"**_

"It is of no use… Whoever you are, just give up." Kuroko slowly stood, blocking some sunlight and creating more shadows on the ground which immediately came alive as well, swirling and dancing inside the room. "I am Kuroko Tetsuya, a Shadow Master. All the shadows are my friends. As long as the shadows are around, you cannot touch me or my companions." Kuroko lifted his right hand and in time with his hand movement, the shadows in the room moved as well. Some went to Kise and Midorima to cover them. Now they were completely bulletproof.

There was hissing sound in the room coupled with growling and snarling. _**"How could a human like you possess such power…?!"**_

"I was born with it," Kuroko replied a little bit difficultly with all the injuries and pain he was bearing. "Now tell me… O Great One. Why… why has a Lord of this Land such as you turned into something _like this_?" He couldn't comprehend it.

"A Lord of this land?!" Kise stared at Kuroko, gaping in astonishment.

"So that's his true identity… No wonder my charms couldn't ward him off…" Midorima stood slowly following Kuroko's example and held his bleeding fingers in a grimace. "He's the Lord of this land. He's in completely different league with evil spirit."

"Wait a—! The Lord of this Land?! You mean it's a God?!" Kise looked even more shaken if it was possible, hanging his jaw open mouthed like that.

"Well… he is on par with a _deity_ , I guess. He has the power to 'speak' normally to ordinary human. If it was just an ordinary evil spirit, he would not be able to do that." Kuroko coughed and didn't let his gaze stray from the black smoky thing. "Now, please hear me out, O Great One. We did not mean to disturb this land. No one does and it is not Kagami-kun's fault as well. Why would you bore such animosity toward Kagami-kun? Why would you care that he came here? You never did with the other occupants of this house… _land_ before. You are the Lord of this Land. You were already here even before those spirits from Heian period came. Why would a deity like you bother with a mere human boy such as Kagami-kun?" He asked slowly.

" _ **It's the kid's fault that I turned this way!"**_   The Lord shouted, his black smoky form grew darker if it was possible.

"What do you mean?" Kuroko frowned. What did Kagami do? How come a human boy like Kagami could turn something so powerful into something so malicious like this?

" _ **This… this form… I wasn't always like this…!"**_ The smoky hands covered the Lord's smoky face. He sounded distraught and irate. _**"I was… My form was better than this ugly, repulsive thing. I was the Lord of this deserted Land. People worshipped me for my ability to calm the spirits that died in this land in the civil war. For hundreds of years I stayed behind and purified this place… always… always… I was content with my duty. I was…!"**_ The expression on his smoky face changed. _**"But then, ten years ago… I met him."**_

Kuroko risked a glance at Kise and Midorima who looked at each other in mystification as well. "So, you met Kagami-kun ten years ago." He moved his gaze back at the Lord.

" _ **Yes… such small pure soul… He was alone inside the pipe just above my shrine. He looked scared, so I called out to him. Surprisingly, he could see me."**_

Kise and Midorima looked startled and Kuroko softened his expression. "Children are more in tune with supernatural being after all. It is possible for him to be able to see you."

_But if Kagami didn't want to see him, he wouldn't be able to. So at some point, Kagami must have wanted some company at that time._

" _ **I was… happy that he could see me,"**_ The Lord didn't seem to hear Kuroko's words as he continued. _**"I had never spoken to a living human before then… and I was glad that I could ease his fear and worry for not being able to return home in the middle of the rain storm. I even accompanied him home. Since then, Taiga often came to my shrine and he talked to me, he convinced me to play together with him, sometimes just him and me, other times he brought his friends to meet me. It was easy for me to disguise myself as a human child to be together with him. We were always together… like real brothers… I was very happy, so happy… I had never felt that way before in my entire existence."**_

 _I see… so that's what happened—_ Kuroko felt saddened upon realizing what this was about.

" _ **We promised to stay together… always together, but that child…! He lied to me! He was going to go away! He said he didn't want to go. He was crying and begged me to make him stay, so I—!"**_

"You 'killed' him, did you not?" Kuroko closed his eyes, biting his lip.

"WHAT?!" Midorima and Kise's collective shocked gasp was heard and Kuroko could hear the agonized cry from the 'Lord' before he opened his eyes again to stare at the black smoky thing bravely.

"You are the Lord of this Land. You could not possibly 'end' his life. So you robbed his memory of you and this place away from his soul. You 'killed' part of _him_ so you could have ' _that part_ ' for yourself. It must have drained almost all of your power to do such thing. To maintain his physical form only using his memory… you are already… at your limit."

" _ **I had to let go of him… He was gone… But I didn't want to let him go…! I can't… I can't…"**_ Another excruciating scream shook the house. The ground quaked and the furniture was toppled down.

"You had a taste of happiness living as human… a taste of 'feeling' called 'love' and the loss of your beloved was too great of a burden, coupled by negative feelings which started to grow inside of you… loneliness, pain, suffering… you could not bear it all." Kuroko couldn't help sympathizing.

" _ **My form started to deteriorate three years ago… If this went on, all the spirits that I have been guarding would be contaminated. They would all turn into evil spirits… I had to do something… anything to stop this, and when I was in dilemma of what to do, two years ago, Taiga came back here."**_ The Lord sounded like he got a ray of hope when he spoke about Kagami. _**"He came back… and I realized when I saw him that all this time, I had been waiting for him to come back."**_

"But Kagami-kun could no longer see you." Kuroko got even sadder at the thought.

" _ **I tried to gain his attention the whole time. I tried and tried but he didn't realize my presence. I was so disappointed and sad. Why wouldn't he see me?"**_

"So you started to prank him," Kuroko concluded.

" _ **I didn't mean to… I just wanted him to notice me. But he… even after he realized that something strange was going on, he still didn't know it was me and worse, he started to fear me, ME! I am his best friend! I am Himuro Tatsuya, his brother!"**_

Kuroko made a note to himself to check out that name. Even though it was just an alter ego made by the Lord to befriend Kagami, it was rather strange that he referred himself in that name, as if he were completely attached to that character.

" _ **I've been waiting for him all this time… I'm not going to let him go that easily. He's mine…"**_

"That is right. You just could not let it go, and because of Kagami-kun's obliviousness you began to get angry." Kuroko hardened his gaze once more as he looked at the Lord. "You started to escalate the supernatural activity around him and even started using the spirits that should have been asleep in this land to torment him. You wanted to hurt Kagami-kun, did you not?" He accused and another angry pulse of energy blasted around the Lord.

" _ **Don't you dare patronize me, child! I am the Lord of this Land. This territory belongs to me and I control every spirit that resided in this area! I can use them however I want and if I want Taiga to stay here forever, I can make it happen!"**_

Along with his angry shout, the ground started to shake harder and there were cracks on the wall now.

"Kuroko-chi! It's too dangerous to stay inside the house! The building is collapsing!" Kise yelled apprehensively as he seemed to notice some rubble that fell down from the roof.

"I know, if only Murasakibara-kun were here…!" Kuroko muttered in annoyance as he also saw the debris.

"Anyway, we have to get out of here first!" Midorima also shouted while he moved to get closer to Kagami's body on the ground. "Kagami and especially _you_ need medical attention. We will come back here later to deal with the Lord!"

"This is not over, Lord of this Land. I will have you release the bond you have with Kagami-kun." Kuroko warped his shadows around himself and his friends more thickly before he and the others quickly moved.

" _ **I will have Taiga no matter what! You can't take him away from me!"**_

Another energy blast almost toppled all of them, but Kuroko's shadows protected them. "Try me. I will be back to settle our score."

Then they were out of the house as it collapsed entirely to the ground. Both Kise and Midorima were panting heavily after they lugged Kagami's body outside. Kuroko was staggering; his vision blurred because he lost too much blood and his energy was almost entirely spent on the ritual and his shadow-manipulating.

"We… have to retreat… and regroup… away from here…" Kuroko sat down heavily on the ground before laying down to rest his mind and body. "I need some… sustenance…"

"Hospital first. I'm calling an ambulance." Midorima fished out his cell phone and started dialing.

"Haah… what should we do? This is way worse than the last training case we had with Akashi-chi last year. If he knew that we put our client in risk, do you think he would maim us?"

"Not if we don't tell him," Midorima replied curtly before he spoke to whoever it was on the phone line.

"Yeah, but it is Akashi-chi we're talking about. Some way or another he will know about this." Kise looked completely crestfallen as he sighed deeply.

"We still have… a deity to confront… after this. We should rest… while we can…" Kuroko almost tuned out all the conversation around him as he closed his eyes. He really needed to sleep and that sustenance. He was afraid he wouldn't wake up if he didn't consume something first before blacking out.

"Here's a chocolate bar, Kuroko-chi. Eat this."

Kuroko felt the chocolate on his lips and he opened his mouth to accept the food without opening his eyes. He kept the block of chocolate inside his mouth and suck on it absentmindedly. A few minutes later, he heard the sound of siren from outside the gate.

"The ambulance's here. Let's go," Midorima informed.

"Kuroko-chi, can you move?" Kise tentatively asked.

"Yes… just give me a minute." Kuroko exhaled slightly before he could move his muscle again and started to rise up with the others while the paramedics came inside to check on them.

_Next time it will not be that easy…_

**End of Part 3**

**Tbc…**

* * *

**Additional Notes:**

**1)** _ **Kyonshi**_ **:** vampire, Chinese zombie, a dead body that is controlled by a technique user as his _shiki_.

 **2)** _ **Kamaitachi**_ **:** a natural occurrence caused by the strong wind that creates blank space which then causes a cut wound on skin. Usually doesn't cause deep cut that is enough to make it bleed. In ancient time, _kamaitachi_ is believed to be a product of mischief caused by a _youkai_ called 'Kamai' which loves to prank humans by surprising them with sharp wind that can cut like a scythe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Urg, I'm such a dork. You won't believe how many times I redo some sentences in one scene because I just can't be satisfied with them. I need to re-check just in case I leave so many spelling mistakes and grammar errors in this chapter. Anyway, what do you think of this part? Adventurous enough? Scary enough? I need to work on my describing skill in the horror part more… T_T. And I actually can't finish it in three parts. I need one more chapter to wrap this story up. Besides, we need some more explanation about 'the Lord of this Land' and the Himuro alter ego after all. So… Aomine, Murasakibara and Akashi's screen time can't happen yet *sheepish*.
> 
> Now, please excuse me, I need to catch up on Ben 10 Ultimate Alien because I've been crazy about Bevin pair lately (but for some reason I still can't find any muse to write fanfic about them *confused*)…
> 
> Jaa, see you guys in next chapter!


	4. Ki. Se. Dai 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Recuperation time! Kagami and Kuroko are in hospital. Kise is shedding skin. Midorima makes new plan. Alex, Riko, Kasamatsu and Murasakibara make an appearance. Heads up for fluffiness and sweetness galore!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so... sorry for making you wait, everyone. Here's chapter 4 of this story. Now, please... Enjoy!  
>  **Disclaimer and Warning: _See chapter 1 and also... fluff galore ahead!_**

**Part 4**

* * *

Alexandra Gracia was happily drinking her caramel _macchiato_ from the cup, her body slouched lazily on her soft spinning chair and her feet propped obnoxiously on the working desk inside her private investigator office, properly enjoying the evening after-hours when she got a phone call. She ignored it at first, thinking the ringing would stop eventually if no one picked it up. However, the blond began to sigh when even after the fifth ring, it kept on going off.

Alex grouched, slowly putting her feet down off and cup on the table, as she was straightening her body, intending to pick up the phone after the ninth ring when unexpectedly someone slammed the door open to her office. Alex jumped in a start, almost squawking, but someone beat her to it.

"It's too LOUD! Pick up your damn phone, Alexandra!" Aida Riko, Alex overly competent assistant, yelled at her boss in annoyance.

"Riko-chan… there's no need for you to come down here all away from your desk just to tell me that," Alex smiled at her, sweat dropping.

"Then pick up the phone! Why do you always let it ring until the tenth one before answering?! Do you have any idea how annoying that is?!" Riko huffed, putting her hands on her waist while glaring irritably at her.

"Alright, alright, sheesh. I'm picking it up," Alex sighed, grumbling silently that even though Riko's relationship with her current boyfriend— _who is it again? Hyuuga or something—_ didn't really work out, it wasn't a reason to take it out on Alex like that.

"Did you say something?" Riko crunched her knuckles, her eyes narrowing glaringly at Alex in promised violence if her answer didn't satisfy her and Alex gulped slightly, raising both her hands in placating gesture.

"Come on now, Riko-chan. You're cuter when you're smiling, honey," Alex wasn't above flirting with her as long as she didn't maim her in return. Riko's cheeks pinked slightly before she seemed to realize what her boss was doing and harrumphed.

"Just answer your phone," she warned, her temper still slightly off, but at least she didn't look like she was about to murder anyone anymore as she slammed the door closed.

Alex sighed in relief at that. She then turned her gaze at the phone that was still steadily ringing before she sighed once more and picked it up. Good bye her relaxing afterhours.

"Hello, 'Kyoudai Private Investigator Office', you're speaking with Alexandra Garcia. What can I do for you?"

Alex blinked slightly when she realize that she wasn't speaking to a client for once, but to someone from a hospital. She realized immediately that there were only two options of why she would get a call from a hospital, either it was to inform her about something related to her health _or_ if someone related to her got hurt.

She dreaded it immediately because she didn't have any health issue at the moment and that meant the latter was most likely the reason of the sudden call. And speaking of someone close to her that she could account, there was only one person that she could think of getting into trouble. "What happened to Taiga?"

* * *

_**~KiSeDai~** _

* * *

Alex was running inside the hospital corridor that earned her a warning "Please don't run on the hospital corridor!" shout from a nurse that she happened to pass by. Of course she ignored her because Alex was in a hurry, and her mind was full of the thought about— _Taiga's hurt! Taiga's in hospital! Oh my God! Please don't let anything bad happen to him!—_ and of course she couldn't exactly focus on why it was bad to run in the corridor of a hospital.

When Alex found the room number of where Taiga was staying, she quickly skidded to stop and hurried to open the sliding door, "Taiga!" and didn't forget to shout his name in worry.

Though, the scene in front of her instantly baffled her, because there Taiga was, on the bed, in the middle of being fed with _–Is that rabbit eared cut apple?_ —by a smaller boy with teal colored hair— _How in the world did he dye his hair like that?_ —anyway, it was pretty distracting that she could only stare dumbly for a few seconds before Taiga sputtered in reaction to her arrival.

"Alex!" Taiga called and Alex immediately sobered up.

"Taiga! I heard you'd been hurt! What happened?!" She let herself in before closing the door almost too loudly, visibly seeing both Taiga and the boy currently in front of him cringe, either because of the banging sound, her voice, or the prospect of explaining to her.

"Oh, ye-yeah, there was… an accident, at the house," Taiga let his eyes wander to the left as he paused for some time after the word 'was' and Alex narrowed her eyes at him.

"You're lying," she huffed before she walked to the bed and sat herself on the chair beside it. "Try again." She demanded seriously and Taiga looked conflicted for a moment before he sighed.

"Alright… it was… _that thing_ , the 'disturbance' in my house that I told you about some time ago," Taiga's body visibly sagged in defeat as he began to tell her the truth. Taiga was indeed genuinely an honest person and also a terrible liar. It was so easy to tell when he was indeed lying from his body gesture alone.

"The supernatural thingy?" Alex confirmed and Taiga nodded, wincing slightly as he seemed to be uncomfortable with the word _or_ there was a crick on his neck that gave him slight pain when he moved his head too vigorously. "I thought I told you to relay your problem to Ki. Se. Dai for that. Didn't you go there?"

"I did," Taiga nodded and turned to the boy in front of him, whom Alex almost forgot was there, and then proceeded to introduce him to Alex. "This is Kuroko Tetsuya, one of the Ki. Se. Dai employees."

"Oh?" She pushed the glasses up the bridge of her nose and focused her gaze to the pale boy. It was almost difficult to see him directly for some reason. Why was his presence so… low profile? She filed that away for latter inspection. "I was sure that you were Taiga's boyfriend there after seeing how intimate you were feeding him," she grinned, not passing the opportunity to tease and embarrass her pupil.

As expected, Taiga flushed in a shocked, embarrassed sputter while Kuroko only raised his eyebrows in reaction. _Oh, what a poker face_. Alex was suddenly interested. She had only met one member of that supernatural investigation office, or precisely, only the boss, Akashi Seijuurou, when she had been tangled with an investigation of a murder involving a high profiled, dangerous, ancient artifact that seemed to have supernatural power. The way Akashi handled his own investigation regarding the artifact was so professional and superb that she had fleetingly thought that she was working with a corporate boss instead of a high school boy.

This boy though… he seemed rather different from Akashi, but she couldn't deny that there was something 'off' with him as well. It wasn't anything bad though, at least, she didn't think it was bad, but _dangerous_ … definitely.

"I presume you were the one that referred our office to Kagami-kun?" Kuroko asked, taking her teasing in stride or just simply ignoring it. Not fun.

"Alexandra Garcia, Private Investigator," she offered her hand in a handshake and Kuroko shook it.

"Kuroko Tetsuya, Ki. Se. Dai. member. It's nice to meet you, Alex-san," he replied with a slight nod, not completely forgetting the habit of Japanese people to lower their head when they address an older person.

"Likewise. I know your boss, by the way; met him on a gig once and proceeded to ask for his number," she grinned and Kuroko blinked, almost in astonishment before he schooled his expression once again to be expressionless, not indifferent, but… it seemed that his basic expression was the _expressionless_ one, so he couldn't help it.

"Akashi-kun's… number?" Kuroko's tone dragged, like he was skeptical, but more into wonder rather than disbelief.

"Seijuuro's pretty awesome. He's just a teen but he could actually make the officer in charge of the investigation swoon at his feet," Alex cackled at the amazing memory. She would have eternalized it in a photograph if it hadn't been for Akashi's personal request to keep his involvement with the case a hush-hush. Akashi didn't like attention to himself and Alex had respected that.

"I see… so Akashi-kun has been taking cases alone as usual," Kuroko's gaze darkened eerily for a moment before his expression was back to normal as he let out an almost audible sigh. "And after we requested him not to," he whispered and Alex would have missed it if she didn't see his mouth moving.

It seemed that there was something… but never mind about it. Alex had to get back to the main topic. Now that she knew Taiga seemed alright, she needed to drill him for information.

"Alright, so… what happened? How come Taiga was hurt if he was your client?" Now she was back to her mother-hen mode and narrowed her eyes at Kuroko. Taiga visibly groaned while Kuroko looked a bit guiltily at her.

"It was our responsibility," Kuroko confessed, to Taiga's indignant squeak of "It was not!" before they proceeded to bicker among themselves.

Alex just blinked at them in confusion. Apparently there was more to this case than meets the eye.

* * *

_**~KiSeDai~** _

* * *

"I told you. Stop blaming yourself! It's not your fault and everybody _knows_ it!" Taiga huffed.

"Our office' policy is not to involve the client in our 'taking care problem' process, but we actually endangered you by giving you a leeway to see how we did our work," Kuroko pointed, looking shamefaced.

"But that was because I insisted to be there! You couldn't do anything to stop me anyway," Taiga was affronted that Kuroko had to take responsibility for Taiga's own carelessness and stupidity. It wasn't Kuroko or Kise or Midorima's fault. They tried to protect him. It was the other way around. Kagami was the one that endangered himself and the other by being there. He should blame Kagami, not himself!

"Still, we did promise to protect you, but was not able to do it properly because of the miscalculation on my part. If we had known previously that we were dealing with a deity instead of an evil spirit, then Midorima-kun could have done something about the protective charm and you would not have to get hurt like this. I… I am sorry, Kagami-kun." Kuroko looked slightly dejected, and his eyes were downcast instead of looking at Kagami's properly.

"Hey…!" Now Kagami felt even guiltier for what he had done, refusing to comply to stay out and unnecessarily endangering himself and Kuroko and the others. "Don't make that kind of face, sheesh. It's really not anyone's fault but mine in the first place. Besides, you got me out of that house and look! You got injured more than I did!" He scowled at the bandages covering Kuroko's arms and chest that was visible from the v in the other boy's hospital gown. Even his face didn't go unscathed! There was a band aid on his left cheek for God sake!

Kuroko looked down at his chest and arms for a moment and smiled a bit. "It was nothing. Just a scratch from the wind," he said, and Kagami frowned both in confusion— _the wind? —_ and indignation since Kuroko didn't seem to take his own injuries seriously.

"Alright! Enough!" Alex suddenly exclaimed, surprising him and Kuroko. Man, just now he forgot that she was there. "Stop blaming yourself or each other because both parties were at fault. Now, explain the case to me." She huffed after that while giving both Kagami and Kuroko a common ground that indeed, they could share the blame and responsibility instead of shouldering it alone.

Kagami glanced at Kuroko and Kuroko nodded, seeming to agree with it for now. "Is it alright to tell her, Kagami-kun?" he asked for permission and Kagami nodded.

"She'll grill me anyway. It's better if the professional explain it rather than getting my jumbled version. Besides, I lost consciousness in the middle of it. You can fill me in too, Kuroko."

Kuroko nodded. "Then…" After that, Kuroko explained the process of his and his colleagues' investigation and research for the supernatural phenomenon that happened to Kagami, both the thing he already knew and witnessed and the thing he missed. He explained one by one the general and the specific terminologies for Alex and Kagami's sake as well.

"At first, we concluded that we might have been dealing with an evil spirit residing in the area that somehow controlled the 'sleeping spirits' in the land, but we miscalculated. We didn't think the real culprit was a deity that had been protecting the land for hundreds of years." Kuroko said and Alex put her index finger and thumb on her chin, seeming to think seriously.

"Why would a deity be interested in Kagami? What was its purpose?" she mumbled lowly.

Kuroko looked at Kagami then. "What?" he asked, feeling that he missed something?

"Kagami-kun… that deity… it said that you were his brother," Kuroko looked uncomfortable and Kagami instantly understood that Kuroko didn't know the entire explanation of how that could be. He didn't see and experience what Kagami did in the dream. For Kuroko the reason might be unreasonable, but Kagami could understand Tatsuya's feeling.

"I met Tatsuya when I was 7," Kagami said and both Kuroko and Alex looked at him, apparently surprised. "We were inseparable at the time. For almost a year, we did everything together every day and it was fun. It was laughter and happiness and adventure and I didn't want those days to end. I didn't know that he wasn't human, that he was there because of my prayer to have someone when I was alone. What I knew was I loved him and didn't want to be separated from him and my friends. I was a kid and I made an impossible request." Now Kagami was sad and regretful of what he asked Tatsuya to do.

" _I wanna stay…! I want to be here forever with you, Tatsuya!"_

"I didn't realize that it would become such a burden to him…" Kagami closed his eyes with the palm of his hand, suddenly feeling like crying.

" _ **I've been waiting for you… forever…!"**_

" _ **You…! You turned me into this!"**_

" _ **Because of you…! I…!"**_

"How… how can we help him, Kuroko?"

" _ **Help me… Taiga!"**_

"How can we return him to his true form? Saving him from corruption of negative feelings and energy?" Kagami looked at Kuroko helplessly and Kuroko seemed to response to his wish resolutely.

"We'll do anything in our power to restore the Lord of That Land to his true form." There was fire of determination in his eyes, making his baby blue irises deepen in color, and Kagami couldn't help feeling so grateful at his reassuring words, especially when Kuroko reached out to touch his hand, reassuring him with warm skin contact.

"Who is this Tatsuya?" Alex's question brought both Kagami and Kuroko to look at her and Kagami was about to explain further for her shake when she said, "It seems that this 'Lord of The Land' got caught in something else before he turned like that. He was too invested in his 'Tatsuya' identity. I'll do some research for this 'Himuro Tatsuya'. It might turn out that there's something else beside the Lord."

"Oh, no, Alex-san. We cannot possibly trouble you with this. It is our case," Kuroko declined immediately but Alex just smirked.

"I'll just look into it anyway. It's my own research, since it involves Taiga. I can't stand and do nothing when my pupil is hurting. I'm going to catch the one responsible for it, even though it's a ghost." Alex turned to Kagami and smiled tenderly before she ruffled his hair fondly.

"Alex! Stop messing up my hair!" Kagami exclaimed, embarrassed, because she was such a busy body as usual, but he couldn't help feeling even warmer from her caring words and her affection. She had been like a big sister to Kagami since she took him under her wing. As for how he met her… it was a long story.

"Alex-san…" Kuroko seemed still uncomfortable with her intention, but she just winked at him.

"Don't worry, Kuroko-kun. I'm a capable investigator and I want to help."

Kuroko looked at her critically for some more minutes before he sighed, apparently giving up since both Kagami and him didn't see sign of her backing down. "Alright then," Kuroko nodded slightly. "Midorima-kun already started his investigation in dealing with deity turning into evil spirit and its miasma. Originally, Kise-kun would have to do the research on Himuro Tatsuya, but he is… incapacitated, at the moment."

"Eh?" Kagami was surprised hearing that. "Is Kise okay? Was he hurt?" He was worried, since Kise was posing at him when they had the show down with the… the Lord, _Tatsuya_. It was possible that he was injured the worst of all of them present in the ritual.

"No, Kagami-kun. Kise-kun is alright. It has something to do with his 'special ability'. It happens all the time." Kuroko reassured him with a kind smile.

"Oh, I see… alright." Kagami let out a relieved sigh to hear that Kise was okay. "But, I'm curious though. Why is he incapacitated?"

"Well…" Kuroko looked the other way, sounding awkward. "He needs to shed his skin."

" _Huh?_ "

* * *

_**~KiSeDai~** _

* * *

"Mnn…! Ah! Nnggh…!"

A series of loud moans were heard from the bathroom of a certain apartment room in a certain building in one of the suburban areas in Tokyo.

"Kise, you're too loud! The neighbor will spread nasty rumors again about me and my sex life if you continue making sounds like that every time you come here!" Someone yelled from the kitchen, clicking his tongue and grumbling when Kise ignored him completely as he proceeded with his moans and groans like a prostitute in the middle of the best sex of his life (even though it was obviously from pain instead of pleasure).

"Seriously, though… why are you guys taking a job when Akashi is not around?" He muttered in annoyance as he made a mug of instant chocolate. Kise was always whiny and cranky after shedding skin, so this was to comfort the idiot.

After pouring hot water and adding some milk to the mug, he put it in the microwave and proceeded to warm it. Two minutes and a ding later, he got the steamy hot chocolate out and added three pieces of marshmallow inside to float before setting the mug on the table. He sat by it and waited. Then he realized that the sound of moans and groans had ceased and it was quiet, neither was a whimper nor a sound of shower heard.

"Kise, are you alive in there?" he asked, raising his voice a bit since there was four meters distance between the bathroom and the kitchen.

There was no answer after a minute and he sighed. This happened all the time though. Kise was usually pretty exhausted after transforming, enough to put him out of action. The blond hated it most after shedding skin because 'it was painful and disgusting', he said. Although he didn't agree with the way Kise seemed to hate himself when he did change his appearance, it was the nature of his power. He seemed cheery and carefree at glance, but Kise thought that his ability wasn't really useful.

"He's too hard on himself sometimes." Kasamatsu smiled slightly as he stood form the chair and moved to look after the kid in his bathroom. He hoped the blond kid didn't pass out again. It was such a hassle if he had to clean him up and carry him to the bed to sleep the exhaustion off.

* * *

_**~KiSeDai~** _

* * *

Midorima was in the middle of his research using his laptop when the door to the office was opened. He stopped to look upward at the person that had just entered the room without even a verbal greeting. "Welcome back," he greeted instead, but the other person didn't say anything despite his slight acknowledgement in a form of a small nod, as he just approached the sofa before he plopped down there, making himself completely comfortable.

"We got a new case," Midorima continued to talk even though the person sitting on the sofa seemed to ignore him and proceed to open a bag of chips in seaweed flavor that he brought out of the convenient store plastic bag which he had been bringing along with him earlier. "A supernatural occurrence in a certain house… though the house got demolished last night because the deity that protected the land where the house was built is corrupted by negative energy and it wants the tenant of that house, our client by the way, to be _His_." He explained the case briefly while he continued his research in how to purify a corrupted deity.

It seemed Midorima had to consult with people in the temple or to high priest or priestess. Purifying evil spirit was one thing, purifying a deity was nearly impossible without higher power. Midorima was expert in protective charms and predicting the future, but purifying negative energy wasn't his specialty.

The crunchy sounds coming from the sofa disturbed Midorima's train of thought before he sighed and looked upward once again to the person sitting there. "Aren't you going to say something about this, Murasakibara?" He asked the tall purple haired boy as the said boy only continued eating his snack without a care.

A little longer of silence filled the room except for the munching sound of chips to Midorima's annoyance before the boy finally reacted and said "Does Aka-chin know about this?" before Midorima could complain, and instead winced in reaction to the question.

…

"…No," Midorima sweated slightly, actually reluctant to answer it since Murasakibara wasn't going to do anything if Akashi didn't give him a direct order to do something, but lying to him while Akashi really hadn't been notified about the case was also out of option. Midorima didn't want Murasakibara to blab it to the boss later and if Akashi knew that they took a case without informing him first… Midorima shuddered. He didn't want to be there in the fall out.

 _Akashi is going to kill us… no. Wait. It's worse. He's going to punish us with 'that thing'—_ Midorima shook his head to banish the horrifying thought. Akashi's special ability was very scary after all. Midorima didn't want to think about that.

"Then don't bother me. I refuse to do anything that's not my problem," Murasakibara said while popping another bag of chips, barbeque flavor this time, to devour lazily.

 _Heartless lazy ass!_ —Midorima scowled at him and huffed in irritation.

"At least tell me what you think about it. It's a deity, you know? It's a very rare and interesting case," Midorima reasoned. He wouldn't ask for Murasakibara's help, but opinion didn't count. These kind of news needed to be shared in forum so other members could also benefit from the information. Who knew? If someday Murasakibara had to take cases involving other corrupted deities, then at least he had ever heard of something like this which could obviously happen.

"Hmm… deity, huh?" Murasakibara looked upward at the ceiling while licking the excess powdery spice on his index finger. "Give the deity what He wants?"

"What He wants is our client's _life_. So no can do," Midorima huffed.

"Make a _hitogata_ of the client then. A replacement that could be offered so the deity is appeased," Murasakibara countered.

Midorima blinked. "That's… actually a good idea," he looked at Murasakibara who was popping a _maiubo_ next on his snacking activity, slightly wondering why sometimes the boy could conjure up such splendid advice without even looking like he was seriously giving assistance. He looked too indifferent for anything most of the time except when he was snacking after all.

"You could help by creating a 'barrier' so the deity couldn't destroy another building," Midorima suggested further and Murasakibara sent him an 'are you for real?' glare.

"I won't lift a finger without Aka-chin's order," was Murasakibara's final say after Midorima and he had a staring contest which ended in Midorima's victory because Murasakibara looked away first. But as far as arguing about helping, Murasakibara came out winning because Midorima wouldn't lower his pride and beg for his help. Not in million years.

"Lazy ass," Midorima muttered in low tone and Murasakibara smirked, obviously hearing the cuss. It annoyed Midorima so much because Murasakibara didn't consider that an insult at all. It was sort of his signature characteristic and he seemed mighty proud of it.

"Should have told Aka-chin before accepting a job. Now, it's your responsibility to finish what you start," Murasakibara popped up another maiubo and oh how that irritated Midorima since he sounded mocking with his unsympathetic tone.

"Of course we will," Midorima might have closed the lid of his laptop too hard, still maddened very much, but he refused to be bothered further by Murasakibara and his antics, so he packed up his things and went out. He still needed to consult to the nearest temple anyway.

 _I'll ask whether there's an Onmyouji around who can make hitogata of Kagami as I go_ —Midorima was determined. He, together with Kuroko and Kise, could finish the job just fine. They wouldn't have to tell Akashi about this at all before the final official report. Though, he hoped Murasakibara would keep his mouth shut about the case when the red head was around later, before they submitted the paperwork.

"Oh, well. We can always bribe Murasakibara to ensure his silence," Midorima nodded, comforted by the idea because it worked every time. Murasakibara was famous with his love for sweets and snacks. He loved them so much he would do anything to get them.

* * *

_**~KiSeDai~** _

* * *

"Kagami-kun, do you think you can tell me a bit more about the Lord… I mean, Himuro Tatsuya?" Kuroko asked from his bed after the nurse was done checking on his vital sign and giving him his meds for the night. Alexandra had gone back because she wanted to start her own investigation and frankly, she seemed to be reliable to dig any information of the matter, but Kuroko was also personally curious about this 'Himuro' character.

After all, to turn into something holy like a deity, one had to be very old, powerful, and went into training to love its surrounding (people and land) equally. Attaching Himself into a character just to be able to connect with a human was very rare. Just like Alex said, The Lord might have gotten caught in 'something' even before He met Kagami. To turn a deity into evil spirit in a matter of 'several years' was almost impossible unless the corruption already started longer before that.

"Tatsuya, huh…?" Kagami smiled slightly. His eyes softened and he seemed very content as he thought about it. "He was… a precious brother of mine," he said, so heartfelt and caring that Kuroko might have felt a tad envious toward the Lord. Kagami-kun clearly still thought of Himuro very much despite what he had already gone through.

 _The Lord took his memory of their time together, and yet…—_ it was very sad. The Lord originally didn't want to burden Kagami with their memory, but that particular memory became a burden to Him instead. His act of generosity became his downfall… talk about irony.

"Of course," Kuroko showed him a small smile, encouraging him to say more. "What was he like when you two were together? Did he ever tell you where he lived?" But he needed something more technical rather than 'how it felt' kind of information, so he dug deeper.

Kagami looked upward at him and seemed about to say something before he halted so suddenly. He widened his eyes, looking surprised, and maybe a bit shocked too with the beads of sweat that were emerging from his temple and cheek. "Uh… _huh_?" He looked confused as well then. "I… don't think I'd ever heard about where he truly lived… Why didn't I find that strange at the time?"

"Hmm… maybe because you were still a child and children tended to be ignorant about details. So, the loophole was there from the start. The Lord could freely disguise Himself and mingle with children without being asked too many questions. Children are commonly in tuned with supernatural beings, so it was easy for them to 'see' and 'connect' with those things. Maybe… maybe the Lord's loneliness doesn't exactly come from Himself…"

" _It was a battlefield. Many deaths occurred in that land a long time ago…"_

Kuroko remembered when the old lady from the neighborhood told him the story about the war that occurred there. But it wasn't just about the war. Famine and criminal activities were also high in that area a long time ago. Evil might have hidden itself between people at the time. There was also a possibility that the land itself was cursed and the Lord might have had to do something drastic to protect the people from its curse.

_If the Lord ended up turning the curse into Himself, it could be the cause of the original corruption… that first crack that allows the Lord to feel a specific kind of love towards individual instead of general._

"I see…" Kagami's resigned voice brought Kuroko out of his private musing. "But honestly, I barely remember any detail of my childhood when I was with him, Kuroko," he looked and sounded apologetic as he addressed him. "Even though I remember Tatsuya and feel so strongly about how important to me he _is_ , I can't seem to remember what he liked or disliked as a child. I remember how easy he made me happy and smile, but I can't recall what he said or did to do that. Is my memory of still incomplete? Does he still withhold part of that memory with him?" Kagami frowned and he seemed disheartened as he looked down on his lap.

Kuroko knew it was rather inappropriate of him to think this, but Kagami seriously looked adorable, like a dejected kitten with his ears down. _So cute!_ —Kuroko just couldn't helped being distracted at the sight, even though it was neither the time nor the place to.

Kuroko shook his head to refocus his priority, but he also didn't like seeing Kagami sad. Mulling it over a minute, Kuroko decided to choose Kagami. Solving the case was also important, but comforting Kagami came first.

 _But what can I say to ease his burden?_ —Kuroko didn't know any words that could comfort Kagami at this moment since he didn't know how to answer Kagami's question. He needed more information before he could give Kagami the true answer. It was possible, he supposed, that the Lord might still have part of Kagami's memories. Although he truly felt how maliciously desperate the Lord had been at the time, it didn't mean the Lord had completely turned into evil entity. After all, Kuroko could have sworn he felt the 'love' the Lord had for Kagami, no matter how twisted it had been.

 _Well, when words cannot do the trick, this will do_ —Kuroko decided silently.

Kuroko got off of the bed and slowly approached Kagami's. He sat at the bed edge, earning him Kagami's attention. "What?" He raised his eyebrows.

Kuroko just smiled at him. "May I?" He offered his hand and he could almost see question mark in Kagami's eyes, but there was also mystify and curiosity in his expression. And Kagami was indeed like a cat because his mystified curiosity obviously won as he, almost subconsciously, reached out to take Kuroko's offered hand. The moment Kuroko squeezed his hand, Kagami seemed to understand and feel what Kuroko wanted him to feel.

It wasn't exactly a special ability because everyone in Ki. Se. Dai could do it as well. After all, everyone could master it with proper training in spiritual guidance in every religion. There was even books and researches that specifically discussed and dedicated to it. It was a form of transferring energy; cleansing energy, like Qi. Akashi required all of them to train this technique to regulate their energy. They were born with such strong energy and it was a waste not to make use of it. It helped them control their emotion and with a little bit of training, it could guide other people's sense to calm or rile them up, depending on what the energy user wanted.

This Qi was very useful to cleanse evil miasma or negative energy in the aftermath of a disaster. Though, to purify evil spirit needed a higher technique and a stronger offensive energy, like the ones being taught to the monk in training, or if they aimed to become a priest or an exorcist. It could also be imbedded in things like charms and Ofuda so its protective effect was higher, like what Midorima did.

Kuroko wasn't a master at controlling Qi, but like the rest of Ki. Se. Dai members, he could transfer positive energy by touching. He couldn't do it more specifically like what Midorima did with his charms and Ofuda, but he could make Kagami feel the calm he was sending to him. And wow, Kagami was actually very perceptive and sensitive to it, because Kuroko could see, the effect was very immediate. Kagami's body was instantly lax and his breath was slower, calmer, his eyes getting droopy like he was very comfortable.

"W-what is… this…?" He sounded wondrous, like he couldn't believe he was feeling this but couldn't help asking for more. It was wonderful and Kuroko was very happy that he could help even though it was just like this.

"This… is how I want to comfort Kagami-kun." Kuroko gave Kagami's hand another gentle squeeze, pouring more peaceful, calming thought.

"How mysterious… I feel very… calm right now, like there was nothing to worry about despite what happened," Kagami smiled, closing his eyes. "It feels like I was cocooned in a very warm, soft blanket."

 _I will protect you no matter what—_ was the thought that Kuroko sent to Kagami, but he didn't need to tell the red head out loud, because when Kagami fell asleep still holding Kuroko hand, Kuroko already knew that Kagami felt completely safe right then.

* * *

**~KiSeDai~**

* * *

"Kagami-kun!" Kise practically _glomped_ (it wasn't a word, but it could describe what Kise did perfectly anyway) the red-dark chocolate haired boy as he was released from the hospital the next day afternoon, as soon as he stepped out of the hospital. After all, he hadn't been injured that badly aside from losing consciousness and the doctor just wanted to observe him overnight because whatever Kuroko or Midorima or Kise said to the medic in charge of the reason why Kagami collapsed in the first place.

Kuroko wasn't so lucky, though, because he was hurt worse than Kagami. The doctor strongly insisted that he was hospitalized longer since they were afraid if Kuroko was injured worse than those large cuts on his arms or legs (Kagami wondered how Kuroko explained those wounds) and there was a danger that those stitches could rip if he did anything more strenuous than walking to the bathroom from his bed. Well, Kuroko declined though, and somehow, he got away with being released against medical advice. Kagami didn't know how he did that. They were all still underage after all.

" _Our job has its perk,"_ Kuroko explained mysteriously to Kagami's utter annoyance. It didn't answer his curiosity, but he grudgingly understood that the mysterious element of their job gave a more… irresistible charm.

Also. Kagami didn't exactly want to think about it, but somehow… his house was crumbled to the ground. From what Kuroko said, the Lord did that, but the _bluenet_ was vague in detailing his explanation. Oh, how would Kagami tell his mom and dad about it? Their house was destroyed after all.

 _Earthquake?_ —but the other houses in the area was okay, and there was no news about the quake strong enough to make a fine, relatively new house crumble to rubles and dusts.

"Kise, stop _glomping_ me," Kagami sighed, pretty dejected as he thought about the bleak future.

"Aww, that's not fun, Kagami-kun! I'm just happy that you're back alright, safe and sound!" Kise cheered, his renewed amber eyes and blond hair sparkling together with his usual stylish model-ish appearance. Kagami had been informed that Kise was quite popular and often featured in fashion magazine since he was apparently a professional part-time model besides working in Ki. Se. Dai. Well, irritatingly, Kise looked so goddamned shiny without any scratch, unlike the still bandaged Kuroko who stood beside Kagami and only sighed at the blond in slight tiredness.

Still, Kagami could see Kuroko was relieved that Kise was okay. Despite what he said about Kise shedding skin (Kagami still didn't get what it meant, but Kuroko refused to elaborate because it was Kise's story to tell and not him) happening all the time, it didn't change the fact that Kise was also hurt in the debacle the day before.

"Thanks, anyway, I'm glad you're okay too." Kagami gave Kise a small smile. He could relate with how Kuroko felt after all, since he was also a bit worried whether the blond was really alright or not. As infuriatingly as he was, it was good to see Kise unhurt.

"Kagami-kun…!" Kise sent him a poignant, moved expression and suddenly Kagami was reminded how unfairly gorgeous Kise was with his real face. He chose to look anywhere else beside the touchy-feely guy and only protested a bit when Kise hugged him enthusiastically. Kise's hands were all over his back, his waist, his _ass_ —damn it!

That was when Kagami remembered that Kuroko was there, and was about to shove Kise to back off before the shorter boy could misunderstand Kise's misplaced affection, yet didn't get any chance to because Kuroko beat him to it by jabbing Kise's side with a force that made Kagami wince and Kise yowl in shocked pain.

Kise was on the ground in no time, crouching and nursing his side comically while muttering, "It's… _very_ nice to see… Kuroko-cchi safe and sound… too…" His voice quivered and his body trembled as he looked upward at Kuroko, still smiling sheepishly despite the tears on the corners of his eyes.

"Thank you, Kise-kun," Kuroko gave Kise a smile as well, but Kise squeaked in horror for some reason, and Kagami just knew that this 'smiling Kuroko' wasn't exactly _smiling_ on the inside. Still, Kagami didn't know why Kuroko was— _angry_? No, annoyed? Exasperated? But, _why_?

Kagami was still mulling over what he had seen in Kuroko's expression as Kise repeatedly bowed and apologized and promised wouldn't do that again and Kuroko was lecturing him about _sekuhara_ and personal space, when Kagami recalled that he needed to think about what he would do after this.

 _I need supplies… clothes and toiletries… crap. My wallet was in the house!_ —Now, Kagami started to panic. His money and cards were in the wallet. How would he buy things without them? _Wait, the hospital bill… who paid for that?!_

"Kuroko!" Kagami grabbed Kuroko's shoulder, seeming to surprise the bluenet and the blond whom he was 'talking' to. "Hey, I totally forgot about this, but… the hospital bill. How did you settle it? I don't exactly have any money right now, and my health insurance paper was in the house, and-and… the house! Oh my god, the house is demolished! S _hit_ , where do I live from now on?" It was like the panic came rushing out as he thought deeper aside the superficial fact that he no longer had a house at this moment.

Kagami supposed, he could crash on Alex's couch for a few days, but he still needed to find another place to live and to do that… he needed money, _which_ he didn't have at the moment.

"Kagami-kun, calm down." Kuroko touched his shoulders with his both hands, and surprisingly, seeing his dull (but bottomless and caring) eyes somehow immediately made Kagami feel relaxed, like his worry and panic had no place around him and it was that mysterious, comforting feeling he could leech from Kuroko's warm touch and kind eyes. Kagami just wanted to stay rooted in that place staring deeply into Kuroko's eyes. It was kind of embarrassing, but he felt _good_ and cozy being so close to Kuroko.

"Kagami-kun," Kise called him from behind and Kagami turned just slightly to see the blond (seeming no longer in pain and frantic now) give him a comforting smile. "No need to worry about the bill. Our company took care of that," he said, looping his arm across Kagami's shoulder blade. Kagami's heart somehow beat faster when he felt Kise leaning his face closely into his ear. "As for your house," Kise's whispered slowly, dragging his voice, making Kagami's ear ticklish and his chest tighten for reason unknown, "—for the time being, it's still off limit since we still need to deal with the Lord. So, for your temporary living space, we have bedrooms at our office. You can stay there until we deal with the problem and restore your house."

"I can stay at your office?" Kagami was genuinely surprised with the accommodation. He would have asked why their office was complemented with bedrooms, but he didn't want to let the chance go by asking too much, so he didn't. Oh, he would ask later anyway. But still, it was kind of startling when he realized as he looked upward, that Kise's face was so close to his that Kagami could feel his fresh, minty breath; and Kise's mouth was like… just an inch from his own and Kagami would have yelped and jerked back if he hadn't been stuck between Kuroko and Kise at the moment, and Kuroko was still injured, so Kagami absolutely couldn't make sudden move that could hurt the smaller boy despite his current shock.

Kise widened his smile knowingly and nodded positively, apparently answering Kagami's earlier question, while Kagami was sweating slightly, trying to avoid getting too close to eliminating that measly small distance between him and Kise's pink lips. He still didn't know why Kise liked getting into his personal space so much, but it was incredibly distracting and Kagami couldn't afford to get distracted right now. "Oh, uh…T-thanks…" Great. Now he was stuttering. Could this get more embarrassing?

Kagami could feel his face heat up, and it was probably blushing right now because Kuroko was staring at him with… peculiar expression. "Aww, Kagami-kun is blushing! So cute!" Kise laughed as he snuggled his cheek.

"Cut it out, Kise!" Kagami exploded then, flushing ten different shades of red as he struggled (lightly, mind Kuroko's still fragile condition) to shove Kise's face away from his. Kise wasn't even remotely deterred and Kagami could feel how Kuroko sigh on his chest.

"I hate to admit it, but I agree with Kise-kun. Kagami-kun is adorable," the bluenet said, causing Kagami to flush harder because then he could hear and see Kuroko chuckle, while he squeezed Kagami's shoulders and his aquamarine eyes glinted teasingly.

"Oh my God, not you too!" Kagami groaned as he clasped his face with both hands in order to conceal how embarrassed he was at that very moment.

Though, Kagami didn't know why… this felt incredibly good. Despite his embarrassment and the fact that he only knew these people only for just a short period of time, he could really feel at ease around them. They even offered a place for him to stay even if it was just temporary.

"For now, let's go back and settle down in our office. We can think of cover story of Kagami-kun's house demolishment after we deal with the Lord," Kise winked and Kuroko nodded.

"Alright," Kagami agreed.

_This time… we will have to really figure out how to save Tatsuya._

* * *

_**~KiSeDai~** _

* * *

In the middle of rubles and chunks of concrete, top of a small, broken, ancient wooden shrine peeked up.

_**Hurry up…** _

There was a rustle and a small skeletal hand moved across the broken parts of the shrine.

_**Hurry up and find me—!** _

**End of Part 4**

**Tbc...**

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A/N:** I have no excuse for all the fluffs. It's just it. Fluff. Dang it. This story is dragging! I want to put the final show down with the lord here, but I guess I decided to make screen time for Riko, Alexandra, Kasamatsu and Murasakibara first before ending the first instalment of the series. Yes, I planned to make it a series, but at the rate I am updating right now, it will definitely take forever to finish this. Aomine and Akashi might come up in next installment, not this one. The plot planning was done anyway. I just need time to actually type them down in the story and details… detail is always important *nods*.
> 
> So… I'm still alive and kicking and this story is not stopping no matter how many years it will take to finish it. That, dear readers, is a promise.
> 
> So… what do you think about this chapter?Con-crit is always appreciated.


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